christophe benjamin
Project
Assessing Risk of Competition between Invasive and Native Fishes: Eurasian Tench (Tinca tinca) versus Redhorses (Moxostoma spp.)A globally invasive Eurasian cyprinid fish, the Tench (Tinca tinca), is increasing in abundance exponentially in the St. Lawrence River and will likely become established in the Great Lakes in the near future. The Tench is a generalist benthivore with a broad tolerance to environmental conditions including temperature and oxygen concentration. It occurs in calm shallow waters of lakes and large rivers, and feeds primarily on benthic macroinvertebrates. It overlaps in diet and habitat with several functionally-similar native species including a group of catostomid fishes, redhorses (Moxostoma spp.), which contain species-at-risk in Canada. To experimentally assess the potential for resource competition, we designed an array of 24 mesocosms containing Tench and Shorthead Redhorse (Moxostoma macrolepidotum). We will compare growth in mass and length of Shorthead Redhorse and Tench in conspecific and heterospecific treatments.
