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Round
Goby Monitoring
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Photo
courtesy of Chris Young
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The round
goby, Neogobius melanostomus, is a bottom dwelling
fish native to the Black and Caspian Seas of Eurasia.
It can grow to 12 inches in length, but is more commonly
less than half this size with a relatively large head
that resemble a tadpoles. The round goby was presumably
transported to North America in the ballast water of
transoceanic ships and was first discovered here in
1990 near Detroit in Lake St. Clair. Since
then, the round goby has spread to all of the Great
Lakes and has started to enter the Mississippi River
watershed throughout the Illinois Waterway. Round goby
are now thriving at the expense of some native fishes
in portions of the Great Lakes because of their aggressive
behavior, prolific spawning, and ability to feed voraciously
in total darkness. The delicate ecological balance of
the Great Lakes ecosystem is thus being altered by the
round goby and the Mississippi River ecosystem may be
adversely impacted next.
 The 8th
Annual Goby Roundup took place June 10-13, 2003, in
the Illinois Waterway System along with the 2nd Annual
Asian Carp Corral. Nearly 50 biologists from the USFWS
and nine other federal, state, and local agencies
helped monitor both of these activities. The Goby Roundup
is a 4-day survey to determine range and relative abundance
of round goby in the waterway. The sampling for carp
and round goby was widely scattered in the Calumet-Sag
Channel, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, the Des
Plaines River, and the Illinois River. Sampling gear
consisted of minnow traps, a trawl, trammel, gill and
fyke nets set overnight, and angling. Fish tissue samples
were also taken to screen for viral and bacterial fish
pathogens and parasites. Results of the 2003 survey
suggest that relative abundance of round goby has decreased
in the lower reaches of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship
Canal and the Des Plaines River since 2002. Despite
its decreased abundance, a round goby was caught further
downstream than ever before (near river mile 278 in
the Des Plaines River). Round goby are now 18 miles
downstream of an electrical fish barrier in Romeoville,
Illinois and 55 miles inland from Lake Michigan. The
round goby's range has expanded
7 miles downstream since 2002.
 The
9th Annual Goby Roundup will take place June 14-18,
2004 in the Illinois Waterway System along with the
3rd Annual Asian Carp Corral. For more information on
round goby in the Mississippi River basin or how you
(or your organization) might participate in an upcoming "Goby Round-Up / Carp Coral", contact Mark
Steingraeber at the La Crosse FRO. (608) 783-8434.
For More
Information:
Go here
for round goby related reports.
Sea Grant
Nonindigenous Species Site - ROUND
GOBY
Round
Goby identification: gob1.jpg
(picture), gob2.jpg
(description)
Round
Goby Q&A
The point
of contact for this project is:
Pam Thiel Pam_Thiel@fws.gov
(608) 783-8431
or Mark_Steingraeber@fws.gov
(608) 783-8436
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