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Blue Walleye |
Scientific:
Sander vitreus glaucum Mitchill Description:
Most evidence, including genetic
tests, suggests that the Lake Nipissing blue walleye is a color morph of
the yellow walleye (Sander vitreus). However, even W.B.Scott and E.J. Crossman, two of the
foremost authorities on freshwater fishes in North America, state that
the grey-blue walleyes seen regularly in Lake Nipissing cannot be denied
nor proven to be blue walleyes based on their observations. Grey-colored walleyes,
which are the result of bluish color mucus, occur with varying frequency
in most yellow walleye populations. Individuals of a slightly bluer
color occur in Lake Nipissing. The known blue walleyes of Lake Erie
& Ontario were distinguishable from most grey-blue forms, in that
they were more slate-blue or steel-blue on the dorsal surface, ice-blue
to silvery on the sides and silvery to white on the ventral surface. The
pelvic fins were white. In the mid 1900s, the blue walleyes of Lake
Nipissing were distinctive enough from yellows in the lake to have
different fishing catch limits (An angler could catch 35 blue walleye in
one day, but only 6 yellow walleye per day). At the turn of the
century (1900), the walleye of Lake Nipissing were almost all blue in
color. However, this stock was fished until depleted by a commercial
gill net fishery started after World War I to provide food and
employment after the war. Once
this fishery was closed, efforts turned to replenishing the stock, and a
faster-growing yellow strain of walleye from southern Ontario was
introduced into the lake. This new yellow strain apparently naturalized
in the lake, becoming a self-sustaining population. The yellow walleye
and the blue walleye can and did interbreed, likely rendering whatever
pure blue stock existed in Lake Nipissing very rare and possibly
extinct. To date, all genetic tests of Lake Nipissing blue walleyes have
resulted in identical genes to yellow walleye.
However, every year a few very distinct blue-colored walleye are
caught in Lake Nipissing, which keeps alive the mystery of whether or
not true blue walleye still exist. If you see a walleye
with very blue eyes, it should be returned to the water. Compiled
by: Richard Rowe Nipissing First
Nation
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