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Boogaard, M.A., T.D. Bills, J.H. Selgeby, and D.A. Johnson, 1997. Evaluation
of Piscicides for Control of Ruffe, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service
Proceedings of the International Symposium on Biology and Management of
Ruffe, March
21-23, 1997
Evaluation of Piscicides for Control of Ruffe
Abstract
Toxicity tests of antimycin and rotenone (registered piscicides) and the lampricide
3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) were conducted with Eurasian ruffe (Gymnocephalus
cernuus) and other fish species in water from several tributaries to Lake Superior.
Ruffe and brown trout (Salmo trutta) were similar in their sensitivity to
antimycin and rotenone; they were about five times more sensitive to antimycin and two
times more sensitive to rotenone than yellow perch (Perca flavescens). However,
ruffe were about three to six times more sensitive to TFM than either brown trout or
yellow perch. The effects of control treatments for sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus)
on ruffe populations in the Brule and Amnicon rivers were assessed by examining the
mortality of caged ruffe and other fishes in these rivers before and after scheduled
treatments and by comparing pretreatment and post-treatment ruffe population estimates,
based on catch per unit effort in the estuaries of each river. Ruffe mortality associated
with lampricide treatment was 97% in the Brule River in 1992 and about 70% in the Amnicon
River in 1994. Although significant numbers of ruffe were killed at the TFM concentrations
used to control sea lampreys, a higher concentration of TFM would be needed to eradicate
ruffe from a river. Even at higher concentrations, TFM treatments should allow selective
removal of ruffe from river estuaries with only limited mortality among nontarget fishes.
Contact: Michael A. Boogaard, U.S. Geological Survey, Upper
Mississippi Science Center, La Crosse, WI 54603 or michael_boogaard@nbs.gov
Keywords: Ruffe, Chemical_control, Environmental_impacts
Product Type: Publications, Proceedings,
Impact
User Type: General
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