Fecundity of hatchery lake trout in Lake Ontario

Fecundity (egg number) was determined from 26 stocked (617-800 mm, total length) lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) collected in western Lake Ontario during September 1992. Previous to this study, fecundity was evaluated only once in Lake Ontario using native stocks in 1927. The following relationships between fecundity and total length (TL) and weight (W) were obtained. Fecundity = -12,492 + 25.87 TL(mm) and Fecundity = -1,010 + 1,307 W(kg). Relative fecundity (number of eggs per kg of body weight) was unrelated to body weight and averaged 1,592 eggs kg^-1. Fecundity of contemporary lake trout based on length was significantly lower than that of historic native stocks, but was similar to contemporary stocked lake trout in Lake Superior.