East Lake Wildlife
Bird Species
The
following list comprises all of the bird species (342) that have been
recorded in or around East Lake in Prince Edward County from historical
and current data.
All listed species have been confirmed.
Confirmed East Lake Bird Species
Fish Species
January 23, 2009 Press Release: Threatened species found in East Lake
It was recently confirmed to Friends of East Lake that “an unusual fish” caught by commercial fisherman David Baverstock in the Fairfields Cove (Cove Beach) area of East Lake, was a spotted gar. This fish is on both the Federal and Provincial Endangered Species lists. Mr. Baverstock, whose family have held commercial fishing rights since 1898, had the foresight to take the fish to the Ministry of the Environment at Glenora where it was photographed, and a tissue sample taken. Subsequently the fish was returned to East Lake.
As a follow-up to this reported catch, A PhD student from the University of Windsor, under the supervision of a research scientist at Fisheries and Oceans Canada Centre of Expertise for Aquatic Risk Assessment in Burlington, carried out extensive sampling over a two-week period in late spring 2008, and is expected to make a return trip. The DNA testing was carried out as part of the student’s research with the tissue sample taken at Glenora. Visually, the specimen caught by Mr. Baverstock appeared to have the key character (transparent scales on the throat area) that separates Spotted Gar from Florida Gar (known to be introduced into Canada), however only a DNA test was able to tell for sure.
The Spotted Gar (Lepisosteus oculatus) is a stream-lined predator, with a long, cylindrical body and a beak-like mouth packed with sharp teeth for grabbing small fish such as minnows and yellow perch. The upperparts of the fish are olive brown and the underparts are grey. This species of gar has distinctive spotting on its head, body and fins. They can grow to over one metre long. The Spotted Gar usually lives in quiet clear pools and backwaters of creeks and rivers and lakes with abundant aquatic vegetation. In spring, adults move to shallow, heavily vegetated waters to breed, and have an air bladder to breathe out of water, or in oxygen depleted water.
The Spotted Gar is a southern species, which ranges from the Gulf of Mexico and northern Florida west to New Mexico, and north to the lower Great Lakes. In Ontario, it is found at three sites in Lake Erie. There is so far one record from the Bay of Quinte in Lake Ontario, which may represent an introduction, and historical records from the Thames and Sydenham Rivers.
It is likely that the Spotted Gar was never common in Ontario, since this is the northern limit of the species' range. Pollution and destruction of the shallow, weedy bays, which the Spotted Gar needs for breeding would threaten this species in Ontario, and its discovery close to Cove Beach on East Lake could have implications for future development there as under Ontario's new Endangered Species Act, 2007, the Spotted Gar is protected from any harmful actions. The species also has the general protection given by habitat sections of the Fisheries Act.
