Northern brook lamprey (Ichthyomyzon fossor) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 4

Distribution

Global range

The distribution of the northern brook lamprey includes Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Quebec, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin (Figures 2 and figure3).

Figure 2. Distribution of the northern brook lamprey in Canada and the American portion of the Great Lakes basin. Dates indicate time of most recent collections.

Figure 2. Distribution of the northern brook lamprey in Canada and the American portion of the Great Lakes basin. Dates indicate time of most recent collections.

Figure 3. Distribution of the northern brook lamprey in North America (adapted from Page and Burr 1991).

Figure 3. Distribution of the northern brook lamprey in North America (adapted from Page and Burr 1991).

In general, the distribution is likely more widespread than indicated by existing records because of the difficulty in identifying ammocoetes and collecting ammocoetes and adults (Becker 1983). The specialized equipment and techniques required to collect lampreys have not often been used in many regions outside of the Great Lakes basin. The widely used electrofishing surveys that target multiple species of fishes rarely collect larval lampreys, as the ammocoetes tend to become ‘narcotized’ within their burrows. Because, special efforts usually must be made to obtain representative samples, the number of ammocoete populations is probably largely under-represented (Fortin et al. 2005). To obtain a true understanding of their distribution, surveys that specifically target lamprey species are required on a much broader scale than they are currently performed. Streams within the Great Lakes basin have been sampled more intensively due to regular and specialized assessment for sea lamprey ammocoetes. However, even within the Great Lakes basin, assessment activities are normally restricted to sections of streams accessible to lake-dwelling migratory species of lampreys, and headwater areas are often overlooked.

Canadian range

In Canada, the distribution of this species is limited to the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence, and the Winnipeg River watersheds (Figure 2). Since 1990, adults or transforming individuals of this species have been found in 36 stream systems, including tributaries to Lake Nipissing, Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Winnipeg River, Ottawa River, and St. Lawrence River (Table 1).

Table 1. Tributaries in Canada with adult or transformed northern brook lamprey detected since 1990. Distances occupied and mean stream width used to calculate area of occupancy are included. Widths marked with an asterisk were not available, and the mean width of known streams was used as a surrogate.
Stream Name Length (km) Width (m) Basin
Grand River 65.64 60.00 Lake Erie
Thames River 3.24 *31.92 Lake St. Clair
Bar River 16.45 10.50 Lake Huron
Beaver River 10.02 *31.92 Lake Huron
Browns Creek 3.78 4.55 Lake Huron
Chikanishing River 2.90 12.11 Lake Huron
Hog Creek 10.44 5.00 Lake Huron
Manitou River 5.38 18.06 Lake Huron
Nine Mile River 6.15 *31.92 Lake Huron
Nottawasaga River 132.10 23.45 Lake Huron
Sauble River 15.67 50.17 Lake Huron
Saugeen River 82.49 105.61 Lake Huron
Shebeshekong River 5.65 15.43 Lake Huron
Wye River 14.40 *31.92 Lake Huron
Coldwater River 19.08 15.00 Lake Huron
Echo River 35.04 13.89 Lake Huron
French River 5.10 *31.92 Lake Huron
Spanish River 92.19 20.28 Lake Huron
St. Clair River Not available   Lake St. Clair
Chippewa Creek 3.23 3.00 Lake Nipissing
Wolsely River 8.93 20.00 Lake Nipissing
South Creek 7.60 *31.92 Lake Nipissing
Bear Creek 6.56 6.00 Lake Nipissing
Nipigon River 17.02 257.50 Lake Superior
Pearl River 4.95 16.42 Lake Superior
Prairie River 2.21 *31.92 Lake Superior
Stokely Creek 0.48 8.42 Lake Superior
Unnamed 0.34 2.00 Lake Superior
Sibley Creek 1.08 3.00 Lake Superior
Birch. River 35.77 *31.92 Winnipeg River
Whitemouth River 114.01 *31.92 Winnipeg River
Rivière Châteauguay 4.12 *31.92 St. Lawrence River
Rivière Gatineau (Comtois et al., 2004) 0.8 250.00 St. Lawrence River
Rivière aux Outardes-Est Not available   St. Lawrence River
Rivière Richelieu Not available   St. Lawrence River
Rivière des Prairies Not available   St. Lawrence River
Rivière Saint-François Not available   St. Lawrence River

The SLCC has documented streams throughout the Great Lakes drainage (n= 66) with Ichthyomyzon ammocoetes over the previous 15 years (Table 2); however, these individuals could not be identified to species as a result of a lack of distinguishing characters for ammocoetes.  It is strongly suspected that, due to their location within the stream system (Schuldt and Goold 1980), over half of these populations are northern brook lamprey. As silver lamprey are migratory in nature and usually swim downstream to a large lake for the parasitic phase of their life cycle (Scott and Crossman 1973), it is unlikely that larvae found above barriers are silver lamprey. The absence of adult silver lamprey in sea lamprey traps (which are ineffective in catching smaller brook lampreys) in many of these streams also suggests that the larvae are northern brook lamprey. Sampling efforts targeting adult lampreys are required to unequivocally determine the identity of these larval populations.

The extent of occurrence encompasses a large range, at 441,922 km². Once broken down in terms of designated units (DUs), this corresponds to an extent of occurrence of 280,000 km² and 5,000 km² for the Great Lakes – Upper St. Lawrence DU and Saskatchewan-Nelson DU, respectively.  In Canada, total length of known occupied stream (i.e. having had adult or transformed northern brook lamprey documented since 1990) is estimated at 733 km. The area of occupancy, based on approximate area of stream inhabited is 31 km²(see Table 1); about 26 km² for the Great Lakes – Upper St. Lawrence DU and 5 km² for the Saskatchewan – Nelson DU. This total stream length and the area of occupancy are conservative, given that they exclude several streams for which data were unavailable (see Table 1) as well as streams where ammocoetes have been identified to genus only but that presumably harbour some northern brook lamprey (see Table 2).

Table 2. Tributaries in Canada with Ichthyomyzon ammocoetes found since 1990, but not identified to species (northern brook lamprey or silver lamprey).
Lake Stream Name
Lake St. Clair St. Clair River
Lake St. Clair Thames River
Lake Erie Silver Creek
Lake Erie Big Otter Creek
Lake Erie Big Creek
Lake Erie Grand River
Lake Huron St. Mary’s River
Lake Huron Root River
Lake Huron Garden River
Lake Huron Echo River
Lake Huron Bar River
Lake Huron Thessalon River
Lake Huron Mississagi River
Lake Huron Blind River
Lake Huron Serpent River
Lake Huron Spanish River
Lake Huron Kagawong River
Lake Huron Manitou River
Lake Huron Blue Jay Creek
Lake Huron Chikanishing River
Lake Huron French River System
Lake Huron Key River
Lake Huron Still River
Lake Huron Magnetawan River
Lake Huron Naiscoot River
Lake Huron Shawanaga Landing Creek
Lake Huron Shebeshekong River
Lake Huron Blackstone Creek
Lake Huron Musquash River
Lake Huron Coldwater River
Lake Huron Sturgeon River
Lake Huron Hog Creek
Lake Huron Wye River
Lake Huron Nottawasaga River
Lake Huron Silver Creek
Lake Huron Beaver River
Lake Huron Bighead River
Lake Huron Sydenham River
Lake Huron Sauble River
Lake Huron Saugeen River
Lake Huron Nine Mile River
Lake Huron Bayfield River
Lake Nipissing Bear Creek
Lake Nipissing South Creek
Lake Nipissing Wolsely River
Lake Nipissing Chippewa Creek
Lake Superior West Davignon Creek
Lake Superior Little Carp River
Lake Superior Cranberry Creek
Lake Superior Goulais River
Lake Superior Stokely Creek
Lake Superior Jones Landing Creek
Lake Superior Chippewa River
Lake Superior Pic River
Lake Superior L. Munro Creek
Lake Superior Little Pic River
Lake Superior Prairie River
Lake Superior Pays Plat River
Lake Superior Gravel River
Lake Superior Jackfish River
Lake Superior Nipigon River
Lake Superior Black Sturgeon River
Lake Superior Pearl River
Lake Superior Sibley Creek
Lake Superior Mackenzie River
Lake Superior Neebing-McIntyre Floodway

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