Lake Ontario salmon (Salmo salar) were not migratory: A long-standing historical debate solved through stable isotope analysis.
Lake Ontario once supported a large complex of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) populations that became extinct prior to scientific study. Since the 1860s, research efforts to conserve and reintroduce a sustainable population of Atlantic Salmon have focused on determining whether Lake Ontario's original salmon populations had migrated to the Atlantic Ocean as part of their lifecycle (anadromy), stayed in the lake year-round (potamodromy), or both. We used stable carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur isotope analyses of archaeological bones and historical museum-archived salmon scales to show that the original salmon populations from Lake Ontario completed their entire lifecycle without migrating to the Atlantic Ocean. With a time depth of more than 500 years, our findings provide a unique baseline with significant potential for informing modern restocking and conservation efforts.
Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, 6303 NW Marine Dr., Vancouver, BC V6T1Z1, Canada.
Eric J
EJ
Guiry
Perca Zooarchaeological Research &Trent University Archaeological Research Centre, 1600 West Bank Dr., Peterborough, ON K9L 0G2, Canada.
Suzanne
S
Needs-Howarth
National Marine Fisheries Service, 28 Tarzwell Dr., Narragansett, RI, 02882, USA.
Kevin D
KD
Friedland
Archaeology program, School of the Environment, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Rd., Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6, Canada.
Alicia L
AL
Hawkins
Department of Anthropology, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Dr., Peterborough, ON K9L 0G2, Canada.
Paul
P
Szpak
Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, 6303 NW Marine Dr., Vancouver, BC V6T1Z1, Canada.
Rebecca
R
Macdonald
Ostéothèque de Montréal, Université de Montréal, 2900 Blvd. Edouard-Montpetit, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada.
Michelle
M
Courtemanche
Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park, Toronto, ON M5S 2C6, Canada.
Erling
E
Holm
Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Dr., Burnaby, BC V5A1S6, Canada.
Michael P
MP
Richards
D025041:Animal Migration / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D005580:Fossils; D007553:Isotope Labeling / Q000379:methods*; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D020317:Salmo salar / Q000502:physiology*; D013460:Sulfur Isotopes / Q000032:analysis
D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes; D013460:Sulfur Isotopes