Lake St. Clair

The Great Lakes have suffered the invasion of numerous exotic species of which the smelt, alewife and sea lamprey are probably the best known. More recently, two more species have entered the lakes probably via ballast water from foreign ships. The ruffe (Gymnocephalus cemuus) a small percid, feeds on the eggs and larvae of other percids and whitefish. The ruffe is currently considered to be a threat to Lake Superior s 5- 10 million whitefish fishery. The zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) was discovered in Lake St. Clair in 1985 (31). It has subsequently been discovered at locations throughout the Great Lakes and is of major concern not only environmentally but economically. It has already colonized numerous industrial and domestic water intakes in sufficient numbers to entirely block water flow and is also an intermediate host to parasites which eventually invade fish. 

The Decline in Mercury Conceruration in Fish from Lake St. Clair, 1970-1976, Report No. AQS77-3, Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Toronto, Ontario, 1977, 85p. 

Stendell RC, Ohlendorf HM, Klaas EE, Elder JB. 1976. Mercury in eggs of aquatic birds. Lake St. Clair — 1973. Pestic Monit J 10 7-9. 

Mackie GL (1991) Biology of the exotic zebra mussel, Dreissena-polymorpha, in relation to native bivalves and its potential impact in Lake St-Clair. Hydrobiologia 219 251-268... 

For the Great Lakes, especially for the Lake St. Clair collection site, industrial sources and urban lead aerosol fallout from the Detroit area were major sources. 

Lake St. Clair Virginia, mercury-contaminated site vs. reference site, 1986-87 0.5—2.0 FW 1... 

Leopard frog, Rana pipiens Lake St. Clair... 

Gobas, F.A.P.C., D.C. Bedard, J.J.H. Cibrowski, and G.D. Haffner. 1989. Bioaccumulation of chlorinated hydrocarbons by the mayfly (Hexagenia limbata) in Lake St. Clair. Jour. Great Lakes Res. 15 581-588. 

Rossmann R. 1988. Estimation of trace metal storage in Lake St. Clair post-settlement sediments using composite samples. J Great Lakes Res 14 66-75. 

Bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana Lake St. Clair Carcass Liver... 

Mayfly, Hexagenia limbata Lake St. Clair, July 1987, sediments vs. whole adults PCB 87 PCB 101 PCB 118 PCB 138 PCB 153 PCB 180... 

Napela, T. F., J. F. Cavaletto, M. Ford, W. M. Gordon, and M. Wimmer, Seasonal and annual variation in weight and biochemical content of zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha in Lake St. Clair , J. Great Lakes Res., 19, 541-552 (1993). 

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