Can invasive round goby successfully reproduce in estuarine and marine waters of NY?

Suresh Sethi, James Watkins, Kelsey Alvarez del Castillo, Rob Dickie (Funded by Cornell Water Resources Institute) 

Round goby invaded Oneida Lake in 2014 and has continued to spread eastward across the state via the Erie Canal, making its way into the Hudson River Estuary. It is believed that the downriver spread of this species will be limited by high salinity. Graduate student Alvarez del Castillo developed an invasion risk map based on her  temperature-dependent salinity tolerance experiments, conducted at the experimental building at CBFS. Alvarez del Castillo found that round goby could spread throughout the Hudson River Estuary year-round and survive in Long Island Sound in cold water temperatures. These results will help predict how far this invasive species will spread in the Hudson River Estuary and connected waterways. This work is part of Alvarez del Castillo’s Masters work. In 2024 we collected round goby from Oneida Lake and transported them to an experimental facility at CUNY Brooklyn to evaluate spawning success at different salinity treatments.