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Steingraeber, M. T., A. L. Runstrom and P. A. Thiel (1997). Round Goby (Neogobius melanostromus) distribution in the Illinois waterway system of metropolitan Chicago. Pages 45 in M. Olekszyn and M. Steingraeber, eds. Proceedings of the Mississippi River Research Consortium, La Crosse, Wisconsin (USA), Mississippi River Research Consortium.

There is concern that the range of the round goby Neogobius melanostromus, a nonindigenous fish recently introduced to the Great Lakes drainage basin from Eurasia, may expand to other drainage basins with adverse ecological consequences. The Illinois Waterway System (IWS) connects the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins and facilitated the spread of another exotic nuisance species, the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha, to other environmentally sensitive drainages of interior North America earlier this decade. We surveyed the distribution of round goby in a portion of the IWS near metropolitan Chicago in autumn 1996 with traps, seines, trawls, set lines, and by angling. A total of 61 round goby were captured in the Little Calumet River in south Chicago at locations upstream of river mile 321.4 (12 miles inland from Lake Michigan). No round goby were captured at sites in connecting channels downstream (i.e., further inland) of this point as far away as Joliet (river mile 283). Bottom trawling, particularly over rocky substrates, was the most successful means of capturing round goby and accounted for 87% of the total catch. Goby captured by trawling were significantly smaller than those captured by other gears and significantly smaller goby were captured at the sampling site furthest upstream. The length frequency distribution of the round goby we captured suggested the presence of fish from the three most recent year classes (1994-1996). The rocky substrate preferred by round goby may be less common in a short reach of the Little Calumet River downstream of river mile 321. Despite this potential habitat deficiency, population growth and human interventions are soon likely to expand the range of the round goby in the IWS.