Graduate research positions are available in Lynda Corkum’s lab at the University of Windsor for students interested in studying pheromone communication in the round goby, an invasive fish in the Great Lakes of North America. The round goby is the fastest spreading teleost fish ever reported. How to control the round goby has become an issue critical to the sustainability of native fishes and biodiversity in the Great Lakes. We hypothesize that reproductive male round gobies release pheromone(s) that attract gravid females.

Our main objectives are to characterize the round goby mating system and to identify the structure and function of male pheromones. We will apply this knowledge to trap round gobies in the field where they co-occur with spawning native fishes. Our research team has shown that gravid females are attracted to odours released by territorial male round gobies in the laboratory. We also have identified candidate pheromones (11-oxo-etiocholanolone-sulfate and its metabolites) that are synthesized in the testis of male round gobies and that induce both behavioural and physiological responses in gravid females. The principal investigators of the research team are Weiming Li, A.P. Scott, Lynda Corkum and Barbara Zielinski.