Invasive round goby as a water quality assessment tool: bioindicators of contaminants in Northeastern U.S. inland waters
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Abstract
After first being recorded in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario in the early 1990s, the invasive fish Round goby (Neogobious melanostomus) is rapidly expanding across New York inland waterbodies and is advancing towards the Hudson River system and Atlantic Ocean. Where introduced, round goby quickly reach high biomass. As predators, round goby foraging behavior potentially exposes them to high contaminant loads, consuming benthic invertebrates and filter feeding invasive mussels. Because round goby are widely spread throughout habitats in invaded systems, they are easy to catch, and their range is expanding, they may provide an indicator reflective of contaminant levels in inland waterbodies, providing spatially extensive bioindicators of water quality. Here, we assessed total mercury concentration in 52 round gobies sampled among 5 lakes in NY. Goby contaminant levels were consistent within waterbody, but varied significantly among waterbodies with mean concentrations ranging from 16.5 – 77.9 THg ng/g wet weight. Round goby contaminant levels were associated with lake-wide total mercury contaminant levels, with Onondaga Lake fish having substantially higher total mercury loads. These results suggest round goby may reflect waterbody contaminant loads and serve as potential bioindicators of contaminants in invaded waterbodies.