Great Lakes
Fish & Invasive Species
Water Use & Quality
100

This Great Lake has the largest surface area.

What is Lake Superior?

100

Wisconsin’s state fish, this large predatory fish is nicknamed “the fish of 10,000 casts.”

What is the muskellunge (muskie)?

100

The average American uses about this many gallons of water per day at home.

What is about 80 gallons?


200

The shallowest Great Lake, it is also the warmest and among the most biologically productive.

What is Lake Erie?

200

First detected in the Great Lakes in the 1980s, this invasive mollusk clogs water intake pipes and disrupts aquatic ecosystems.

What is the zebra mussel?

200

About two-thirds of Wisconsin residents get their drinking water from this source, rather than lakes or rivers.

What is groundwater (aquifers)?

300

This percentage of the world’s surface freshwater is contained in the five Great Lakes.

What is approximately 20%?

300

This collective name refers to non-native carp species whose spread into the Great Lakes is a major ecological concern.

What is Asian carp (bighead/silver carp)?

300

This toxic metal, often released from old pipes and plumbing, has been a major drinking water concern in Milwaukee and other U.S. cities.

What is lead?

400

This U.S. state borders four of the five Great Lakes.

What is Michigan?

400

This invasive, eel-like fish entered the Great Lakes through canals and devastated lake trout populations.

What is the sea lamprey?

400

Runoff carrying this nutrient is a major cause of algal blooms in freshwater lakes.

What is phosphorus?

500

The Great Lakes drain into this river on their way to the Atlantic Ocean.

What is the St. Lawrence River?

500

First stocked in Lake Michigan tributaries in 1966, this non-native salmon helped launch the Great Lakes’ modern sport fishery.

What is coho salmon?

500

Found in some firefighting foams and consumer products, this group of chemicals is nicknamed “forever chemicals” because they persist in the environment.

What are PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances)?