The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recently released its 2020 statewide Infested Waters List of waters that contain high priority aquatic invasive species.
In Cook County there are a dozen lakes and a couple of rivers infested with spiny water fleas. Those lakes are: Caribou (in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, just west of Pine), Devilfish, Devil Track, Flour, Greenwood, Gunflint, Little John, McFarland, North Fowl, Saganaga, Pigeon River Downstream of South Fowl, Trout, Pine, and the Royal River between Little John and North Fowls trout lake.
Spiny water fleas are a bane to lakes because they produce rapidly and compete for the same food that young native fish eat. Water fleas consume zooplankton (like Daphnia), which is an important food for forage fish, which are in turn eaten by larger fish.
While fish can eat spiny water fleas, their spine often frustrates small fish, which have difficulty swallowing the miserable little creatures.
Lake Superior (for Cook, Lake and St Louis County) has the following aquatic invasive species:
New Zealand mud snail, faucet snail, round goby, spiny water flea, zebra muscle, Eurasian ruffe, Eurasian water milfoil, white perch, ruffe, and viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) a deadly fish virus and an invasive species that since 2003 has been threatening fish in the Great Lakes.
To reduce the risk of spreading aquatic invasive species, activities like bait harvest and water use are managed differently in infested waters. For additional information visit the Minnesota DNR’s Infested Waters webpage.
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