Hoyo12;4580240;4580240 said:
Alright guys, I took care of it this morning.
Stuck him in the freezer, and just tossed him out now. Sucks, but you gotta do what ya gotta do, lol. I'll remember that first shot though; great looking fish.
Thats not fun....but you did the right thing, some biologists believe that the Round Goby has spread various diseases and according to the USGS, "
Impact of Introduction: The distribution of the round goby around the inshore areas of the Black and Caspian seas indicates their potential for widespread occupation of inshore habitats with cover, especially plants, in the lower Great Lake, yet they can migrate to deeper water 50-60m in winter (Jude et al., 1992).
The numbers of native fish species have declined in areas where the round goby has become abundant (Crossman et al., 1992). This species has been found to prey on darters, other small fish, and lake trout eggs and fry in laboratory experiments. They also may feed on eggs and fry of sculpins, darters, and logperch (Marsden and Jude, 1995) and have also been found to have a significant overlap in diet preference with many native fish species. They compete with rainbow darters (Etheostoma caeruleum), logperch (Percina caprodes), and northern madtoms (Noturus stigmosus) for small macroinvertebrates (French and Jude, 2001).
Mottled sculpins (
Cottus bairdi) have been particularly affected since the establishment of
A. melanostomus (Marsden and Jude 1995). This is almost certainly due to competition with sculpins for spawning sites in large round goby (greater than 100mm), for space in medium round goby (60-100mm) and for food in small round goby (less than 60mm) (Janssen and Jude 2001). Janssen and Jude (2001) argued that the main cause of the dramatic decline in the native mottled sculpin population is due to nesting interference with round goby; the other competition factors having a less severe impact, although they acknowledge the need for further research on food competition. Adults aggressively defend spawning sites and occupy prime spawning areas, keeping natives out (Marsden and Jude 1995; Dubs and Corkum 1996). Laboratory experiments have shown that the more aggressive
A. melanostomus will evict
C. bairdi from rock shelters that are being used for spawning or daytime predator evasion(Dubs and Corkum 1996)
. In trials where round gobies were introduced into tanks with mottled sculpin residents, the gobies approached and chased the resident sculpin (Dubs and Corkum 1996). When sculpin were released into resident round goby tanks, the sculpin were chased and bitten (Dubs and Corkum 1996). Sculpin did not exhibit any aggressive behavior towards the round gobies in any scenario (Dubs and Corkum 1996). In Calumet Harbor, there has been an absence of mottled sculpin nests and fish aged 0 since 1994, coinciding with
A. melanostomus establishment (Janssen and Jude 2001).
Apollonia melanostomus and
C. bairdi both take daytime refuge from predators under rocks, emerging to feed nocturnally (Dubs and Corkum 1996). This space competition could displace
C. bairdi into deeper and unprotected spaces where they can easily be predated. Competition for food between
A. melanostomus and
C. bairdi occurs most heavily when they are young (less than 60mm). This is due to the overlap of an arthropod diet at this age (Janessen and Jude 2001).
The diet of larger round gobies consists mainly of zebra mussels, which no other fish species of the Great Lakes consumes so heavily, allowing round gobies to uniquely exploit a resource that could fuel a population explosion (Vanderploeg 2002). Walleye anglers in Detroit report that at times, all they can catch are gobies, which eagerly attack bait (Marsden and Jude 1995).
The invasion of round gobies into Lake Erie has had very real environmental and economic impacts. The State of Ohio has shut down the smallmouth bass fishery in Lake Erie during the months of May and June. The reason is that high predation rates on nests are affecting smallmouth recruitment. Under normal circumstances male smallmouth bass guard nests and are effective in keeping round gobies away. When males are removed, round gobies immediately invade and have been shown to eat up to 4,000 eggs within 15 minutes. The months of May and June normally account for 50 percent of the total smallmouth catch in Lake Erie so there will be a considerable loss in funds generated by recreational fishers (National Invasive Species Council 2004)." 
