The Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus) is an invasive fish from the Black Sea. It was originally detected in the St. Clair River in 1990, and reached Lake Erie in 1993, where it was found at Fairport Harbor, OH and in the Grand River, OH. In 1994 it moved out into the lake, and is now one of the most abundant benthic fishes in Lake Erie.
Lake Erie sampling locations and primary genetic barriers for Round Goby based on 8 microsatellite loci for 368 individuals. This map is interactive – selecting a point will show the genetic information for those samples.
Research in the Great Lakes Genetics Laboratory has studied the invasion genetics (Brown and Stepien 2008, 2009) of the round goby as well as the tubenose goby (Neilson & Stepien, 2009) and the evolutionary history of its relatives (Neilson & Stepien, in press). Within Lake Erie, genetic data indicate that round goby sampling sites have clear genetic subdivision, indicated by the genetic barriers on the map. These barriers are often congruent with those from native fish such as Yellow Perch, Walleye, and Smallmouth Bass, indicating that the environment of Lake Erie is limiting gene flow in similar ways, despite the vast differences between these fish species.