Muskellunge is found in southeast Manitoba, Southwest Ontario, east through the Great Lakes to the U.S.A. side of the St. Lawrence River. Also found in the upper Mississippi River drainage as far west as Minnesota.

HABITS:

Elongated bodies and heads make these fish formidable and powerful predators. Fry begin eating zooplankton and switch after a few days to fish. Muskellunge are voracious predators. Fish like calm shallow water.

SPAWNING:

Females lay as many as 100,000 eggs early in the spring. Eggs are adhesive. Generally handstripping using the dry method is used for fertilization of eggs in hatcheries. Hatching then occurs in hatching jars. Fry are cannibalistic and need to be separated by size frequently. Also, they must be kept well fed with live feed to minimize cannibalism.

GROWTH:

Fry and young grow rapidly and may reach 6 inches in 60 days. Most fish weigh 15 lbs. but they can reach 60 inches and weigh over 70 lbs.

USES:

Muskellunge are popular sport fish. Fry or fingerlings are generally raised for restocking by government sponsored hatcheries since cannibalism and the high cost of live feed has discouraged commercial farming.

CULTURE:

Sometimes fry are raised until they are juveniles for purposes of enhancing wild stocks, through re-stocking. Fertilized ponds are used for growout after the fry reach 3-5 cm. in length. Recommended stocking rates are 1-2.5 x 10^4 fry per hectare.

REFERENCES:

Iverson, E.S. and K.K. Hale. 1992. Aquaculture Sourcebook. Van
Nostrand Reinhold. New York, New York.

Landau, M. 1992. Introduction to Aquaculture. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York, New York.

Williams, J.D., D.W. Gotshall, D.K. Caldwell, M.C. Caldwell. 1995.

National Audobon Society Field Guide to North American Fishes, Wales and Dolphins. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. New York, New York.