Removal of walleye eggs from reefs in western Lake Erie by a catastrophic storm

We document the removal of walleye Stizostedion vitreum eggs from reefs in western Lake Erie by a gale-force storm event during April 1998. From April 8 to April 10 of that year, the western basin reefs were exposed to sustai ned winds exceeding 80 km/h and originating from the east-northeast. This s torm produced waves in excess of 4 m on the reefs and caused extensive floo ding along the Ohio and Michigan shorelines owing to seiche activity. We sa mpled eggs on Cone, Crib, Locust Point, Niagara, Round, and Toussaint reefs on April 6, the day before the storm, and on April 10, the day after the s torm. We found approximately 80% fewer eggs in the samples collected on Apr il 10, a difference that was significant. Shallow sites on reefs lost signi ficantly more eggs (87%) than deep sites (50%). The lower loss rate of eggs from deep sites was thought to be related to reduced wave energy at greate r depths. The results of this study emphasize the importance of physical pr ocesses in structuring walleye early life history dynamics and year-class s trength on western Lake Erie reefs.