Contact us:
Dr. Alec Lackmann alackman@d.umn.edu
Dr. Mark Clark meclark@d.umn.edu
Dr. Allen Andrews astrofish226@gmail.com
Welcome to the Lackmann Lab!
Alec Lackmann, PhD, is an ichthyologist and research professional at the University of Minnesota Duluth. His research interests include fisheries, ichthyology, fish age analysis, aquatic ecology, quantitative conservation biology, data science, entomology, and last but not least, otoliths.
Dr. Lackmann's research has redefined our understanding of several native fishes and has helped to transform
fisheries management in North America.
NEWS
Award of Merit from the American Fisheries Society, 2025
Citizen science – catch & release buffalofish anglers, Arizona 12news (2025)
The Plight of “Rough Fish”, Offrange (2025)
This Freshwater Fish Can Live Over 100 Years And Defies Aging — A Biologist Explains Why, Forbes (2025)
Bigmouth Buffalo in Sports Illustrated (2025)
Bigmouth buffalo: The mysterious fish that live for a century and don’t decline with age, BBC (2025)
Not Living Fast and Dying Young: Why Older, Bigger Animals Matter, Inside Climate News (2024)
The Rough Fish Revolution, California Academy of Sciences, bioGraphic (2024)
Why the Oldest Fish in the World Lives in a Desert, SciShow (2024), hosted by Hank Green
These fish live beyond 100—and get healthier as they age, National Geographic (2023)
From Minnesota to Arizona, new research tracks a remarkable, centenarian fish, MPR (2023)
Long-lived fish in the Arizona desert, University of Minnesota (2023)
Interest grows in native fish, Agate, Duluth, Minnesota (2022)
Bigmouth buffalo eat zebra mussels, Aitkin Age (2021)
Bigmouth buffalo in MeatEater’s Das Boat (2020)
112-year-old fish has broken a longevity record, National Geographic (2019)
New appreciation for a Minnesota fish, MPR (2019)
PUBLICATIONS
, , , et al. (2025). Within-Ecosystem Comparison of Bigmouth Buffalo Ictiobus cyprinellus and Common Carp Cyprinus carpio Reveals Diverging Population Trajectories, Declining Recruitment, and a Lifespan of 148 Years Ecology and Evolution 15, no. 11: e72483.
Lackmann, A. R., Lyons, J., Kuber, K. A. , et al. (2025). Otolith Age Analysis Reveals Lifespans Greater Than 50 Years for the Three Species of Carpsucker (Carpiodes spp.) in Wisconsin. Aquaculture, Fish and Fisheries 5, no. 6: e70136.
Lackmann, A. R., Bryshun, R., Phillips, I. D., Sereda, J., Ferrari, M., Leavitt, P. R., … & Jardine, T. D. (2025). Otolith and muscle stable isotope analyses to assess food-web interactions between threatened bigmouth buffalo (Ictiobus cyprinellus) and invasive common carp (Cyprinus carpio). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.
Lackmann, A. R., Watkinson, D. A., David, S. R., Scarnecchia, D. L., & Docker, M. F. (2024). From neglect toward enlightenment: the conservation of native fishes in the twenty-first century. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 107, 1305–1326.
Lackmann, A. R., Seybold, S., Bielak-Lackmann, E. S., Ford, W., Butler, M. G., & Clark, M. E. (2024). Analysis of bigmouth buffalo Ictiobus cyprinellus spawning phenology in Minnesota reveals 50-year recruitment failure and conservation concern. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 19444, 1-23.
Woodling, J. D., Treble, A., Brandt, M. M., & Lackmann, A. R. (2024). Otolith analysis reveals long-lived population demographics of quillback Carpiodes cyprinus and river carpsucker C. carpio in Colorado. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 1-15.
Lackmann et al. (2023). Centenarian lifespans of three freshwater fish species in Arizona reveal the exceptional longevity of the buffalofishes (Ictiobus) Scientific Reports, 1-19.
Lackmann, A. R., Bielak-Lackmann, E. S., Jacobson, R. I., Andrews, A. H., Butler, M. G., & Clark, M. E. (2023). Harvest trends, growth and longevity, and population dynamics reveal traditional assumptions for redhorse (Moxostoma spp.) management in Minnesota are not supported. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 1-19.
Hupfeld, R. N., Lackmann, A. R., Andrews, A. H., Welte, C., & Jones, G. (2023). Bomb radiocarbon dating reveals 40‐year lifespan of Shovelnose Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus)—Implications for stock assessments of long‐lived, primitive fishes. Fisheries Management and Ecology.
Lackmann, A. R., Sereda, J., Pollock, M., Bryshun, R., Chupik, M., McCallum, K., … & Clark, M. E. (2023). Bet-hedging bigmouth buffalo (Ictiobus cyprinellus) recruit episodically over a 127-year timeframe in Saskatchewan. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.
Lackmann, A. R., Bielak-Lackmann, E. S., Butler, M. G. & Clark, M. E. (2022). Otoliths suggest lifespans more than 30 years for free-living Bowfin Amia calva – implications for fisheries management in the bowfishing era. J Fish Biol.
Lackmann, A. R., Bielak-Lackmann, E. S., Jacobson, R. I., Butler, M. G., & Clark, M. E. (2022). Otolith allometry informs age and growth of long-lived Quillback Carpiodes cyprinus. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 1-14.
Scarnecchia, D.L., Schooley, J.D., Lackmann, A.R., Rider, S.J., Riecke, D.K., McMullen, J., Ganus, J.E., Steffensen, K.D., Kramer, N.W. and Shattuck, Z.R. (2021). The Sport Fish Restoration Program as a Funding Source to Manage and Monitor Bowfishing and Monitor Inland Commercial Fisheries. Fisheries, 46(12), 595-604.
Fredrickson, A., Rieucau, G., Fontenot, Q., Lackmann, A. and David, S.R. (2021). Non-lethal fin clip model validation for stable isotope analysis of Spotted and Alligator Gar. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society.
Lackmann, A. R., Kettelhut, S., Paulson, B. L., Anderson, C. M., Goodchild, S. C., Guadalupe, K. D., & Stockwell, C. A. (2021). Thin‐sectioned otoliths reveal sexual dimorphism and a 10‐year lifespan in the endangered Pahrump Poolfish Empetrichthys latos. North American Journal of Fisheries Management.
Sauer, D. J., Heidinger, B. J., Kittilson, J. D., Lackmann, A. R., & Clark, M. E. (2021). No evidence of physiological declines with age in an extremely long-lived fish. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 1-10.
Lackmann, A. R., Kratz, B. J., Bielak-Lackmann, E. S., Jacobson, R. I., Sauer, D. J., Andrews, A. H., Butler, M. G., & Clark, M. E. (2021). Long-lived population demographics in a declining, vulnerable fishery-bigmouth buffalo (Ictiobus cyprinellus) of Jamestown Reservoir, North Dakota. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.
Radford, D. S., Lackmann, A. R., Moody‐Carpenter, C. J., & Colombo, R. E. (2021). Comparison of Four Hard Structures including Otoliths for Estimating Age in Blue Suckers Cycleptus elongatus. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society.
Lackmann, A. R., Andrews, A. H., Butler, M. G., Bielak-Lackmann, E. S., & Clark, M. E. (2019). Bigmouth Buffalo Ictiobus cyprinellus sets freshwater teleost record as improved age analysis reveals centenarian longevity. Communications Biology, 2(1), 197.
RESEARCH FOCUS
Investigating the age structure, longevity, and population demographics of catostomids, holosteans, acipenserids, and other freshwater fishes in North America
Understanding the ecological interactions between native and invasive fish species including buffalofishes and invasive carp
Study of bowfisheries, rod-and-line fisheries, and inland commercial fisheries in North America
OUTREACH
Interested to collaborate?
Interested to collaborate?
