Lake Ontario Deepwater Sculpin Bottom Trawl Catch and Biological Data, 1996-2016

Deepwater Sculpin are important in oligotrophic lakes as one of the few fishes that use deep profundal habitats and link invertebrates in those habitats to piscivores. In Lake Ontario the species was once abundant, however drastic declines in the mid-1900s led some to suggest the species had been extirpated and ultimately led Canadian and U.S. agencies to elevate the species’ conservation status in the 1990s. Following multiple decades of annual surveys with no captures, Deepwater Sculpin were first caught in low numbers in 1996 and by the early 2000s there were indications of population recovery. These data sets were used to update the status of Lake Ontario Deepwater Sculpin through 2016 to inform resource management and conservation. The entire data set includes tables for bottom trawl catches, length frequency, individual fish length weight, as well as gonad weight.深水杜父鱼（Deepwater Sculpin）在贫营养湖泊中扮演着重要生态角色，作为少数利用深底生境的鱼类类群，它可将该生境中的无脊椎动物与食鱼性捕食者建立营养联系。在安大略湖（Lake Ontario），该物种曾种群数量充沛，但20世纪中期出现的种群骤降促使部分研究者认为其已在该湖局部灭绝，这一情况最终推动加拿大与美国相关管理机构在20世纪90年代提升了该物种的保护等级。在连续数十年开展年度调查却未捕获任何个体后，科研人员于1996年首次以少量渔获重新记录到深水杜父鱼，至21世纪初已有迹象表明其种群出现恢复。本数据集依托截至2016年的相关调查数据，更新了安大略湖深水杜父鱼的种群现状，可为资源管理与保护工作提供决策参考。完整数据集包含底拖网渔获量、体长频率分布、个体体长-体重对应数据以及性腺重量相关表格。