Help Manage our Muskellunge

Current Status

The total number of submissions to the Cleithrum Project are as follows:

• All species:  4,887
• Muskellunge:  3,930
• Northern Pike:  957

• "Tiger Muskellunge" (hybrids):  296
• Muskellunge Captured in Canada:  1,605
• Muskellunge Captured in the USA:  2,325

All biological information provided for samples is entered into a database and cleithra are interpreted for age and growth information using digital calipers connected to a computer running a version of the CSAGES (Calcified Structure Age-Growth Extraction System) software package (Casselman and Scott 1994). Thus the growth history of each individual fish submitted with a cleithral bone is available for analysis, as is the age of the fish when harvested. This information is vital to the understanding and management of fish populations. Information from the project has been provided to various government agencies, Muskies Inc., and Muskies Canada.
 
As well, individual contributors have had the age of their harvested fish returned.
 
Cleithrum Project data has appeared in numerous scientific papers. A major one is Casselman and Crossman (1986), which utilized age, length, and weight information from 506 trophy muskellunge submitted by August 1983 to present a detailed discussion on the growth of muskellunge. Recently, the Cleithrum Project has been used to supplement waterbody-specific muskellunge studies for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and to assess the status of trophy muskellunge fisheries over the lifetime of the project, using age as indicator of mortality. Also, an update on the status of the Cleithrum Project itself appeared in 1996.
 
These publications are:

• Casselman, J.M. and E.J. Crossman. 1986. Size, age, and growth of trophy muskellunge and muskellunge-northern pike hybrids -- The Cleithrum Project, 1979-1983. American Fisheries Society Special Publication 15: 93-110.
• Casselman, J.M., E.J. Crossman and C.J. Robinson. 1996. Assessing sustainability of trophy muskellunge fisheries. p 29-39 In S.J. Kerr and C.H. Olver [eds.], Managing muskies in the 90's. Workshop Proceedings. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Southern Region Science and Technology Transfer Unit Workshop Proceedings WP-007. 169 p.
• Casselman, J.M. and C.J. Robinson. 1995. Age and growth of trophy muskellunge from selected southeastern Ontario water bodies, 1979-1994. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Glenora, Ontario. Manuscript Report. 21 p.
• Casselman, J.M. and C.J. Robinson. 1995. Age and growth of muskellunge from Lac Seul, 1982-1994. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Glenora, Ontario. Manuscript Report. 24 p.
• Casselman, J.M. and C.J. Robinson. 1996. Age, growth, year-class strength, and trophy size of muskellunge from Georgian Bay, 1977-1995. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Glenora, Ontario. Manuscript Report. 29 p.
• Casselman, J.M. and C.J. Robinson. Unpublished Manuscript. A biological basis for setting size limits: The muskellunge example.
• Casselman, J.M., C.J. Robinson, and E.J. Crossman. 1999. Growth and ultimate length of muskellunge from Ontario water bodies. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 19:271-290.
• Crossman, E.J. and J.M. Casselman. 1996. The Cleithrum Project: An update to 1995. p 147-151 In S.J. Kerr and C.H. Olver [eds.], Managing muskies in the 90's. Workshop Proceedings. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Southern Region Science and Technology Transfer Unit Workshop Proceedings WP-007. 169 p.
• Robinson, C.J. and J.M. Casselman. 1995. Age and growth of muskellunge from the upper Niagara River, 1982-1995. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Glenora, Ontario. Manuscript Report. 13 p.
• Robinson, C.J. and J.M. Casselman. Unpublished Manuscript. Determination of the sex of fish using growth parameters.