By Patrick Cooney The disconnect of East and West was no longer so vast with the driving of the Golden Spike on the United States Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869. Seth Green, an entrepreneur who is often credited with the invention of the fish reel, saw a golden opportunity to expand his empire with…
Author: Patrick Cooney
Doctor Fish: What seems to be the problem?
By Erin Miller Walking through a touristy district of Bangkok, Thailand, I saw a sign that read “Fish Massage: Only $300 Baht For 30 Minutes!” As always, my imagination ran wild. I pictured a carp, sprawled out across a massage table, cucumbers over his eyes, a steaming, damp towel over his forehead, relaxing as two…
Anadromous, Catadromous, Amphidromous, Oceanodromous, or Potamodromous
By Patrick Cooney Can you say ‘potamodromous‘ and can you guess what it means? A) Mood disorder from eating too many potatoes. B) An aquatic dinosaur that crawled across land. C) A migration of fish entirely in freshwater. If you pronounced it like ‘poe-tuh-moe-droe-miss’, then you are off to a great start. But what about the…
Top 10 Weirdest Things Found on a Fish’s Head
By Gus Engman and Patrick Cooney Have you ever looked at a fish and wondered, “What is that weird thing on its head and what is it there for?” Well here is our list of the ‘Top 10 Weirdest Things Found on a Fish’s Head’. Electrosensitive Rostrum: “That’s no banana, that’s my nose! Acha cha…
The Fisheries Blog gets recognition from Fisheries Magazine!
We at The Fisheries Blog were honored to be recognized with a mention and a link from The New York Times a few months back. Fast forward to an article in this month’s Fisheries Magazine (published by the American Fisheries Society), and we are once again honored to be recognized for taking a leading role…
What do your pet and my study fish have in common?
By Patrick Cooney Question: What do Jackson, my mutt dog, and my research fish all have in common? Besides both being incredibly photogenic, what do Jackson and this Brook Trout have in common? Answer: They are all implanted with Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags that transmit a unique identification number when exposed to a magnetic…
Losing Atlantis…Again?
Bimini, just 50 miles off the coast of Miami, sits beside the Gulf Stream. (Kristine Stump) “The house was built on the highest part of the narrow tongue of land between the harbor and the open sea…It was shaded by tall coconut palms that were bent by the trade wind, and on the ocean side…
Why do native plants matter?
Plants are often overlooked as important contributors to the long term health and integrity of aquatic systems. As a result, impacts to riparian areas as well as invasive vegetation introductions have had devastating impacts on fish populations across the globe. For example, Appalachian brook trout were once found in abundance from Canada to Georgia along…
Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays from The Fisheries Blog! We at The Fisheries Blog —Steve, Patrick, and Dana— want to extend a huge thanks to those who have read our weekly posts, as well as to several incredible guest writers who graced our pages over the last year. Further, thank you for the positive feedback about our content. …
The Christmas Carp in My Bathtub
By Patrick Cooney Taking a morning bath with my Christmas dinner is growing stranger by the day. While many Christmas cooks will opt for an encore performance of a holiday gobbler or a stereotypical honey baked ham, I on the other hand have taken the challenge of raising a Christmas Carp. Elaborate holiday fish meals…
Tracking Sharks in the Space Age
In Wes Anderson’s hit film The Life Aquatic, Captain Steve Zissou attached a “homing dart” to a Jaguar Shark so he could later track it down and kill it in an effort to avenge the death of his friend. Continuous yellow blips on their ship’s instruments allowed Team Zissou to track the shark across…
Dam trout: How do trout populations respond to altered flow?
By: Aaron Bunch The basic premise of adaptive management is to learn from previous actions and adjust accordingly with the ultimate goal of reducing uncertainty over time. The goal of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program is to minimize impacts to ecological and cultural resources downstream from Glen Canyon Dam as the Colorado River…
Electrofishing: How to be effective
By Patrick Cooney While hook and line fishing is the most popular method of catching fish by freshwater anglers, electrofishing is one of the most popular methods used by fisheries biologists. But what exactly is electrofishing, and how is it done properly? Boat electrofishing (Photo: Josh Raabe) Similar to stun guns used by police to…
Why are there fish in my peanut butter?
By Patrick Cooney We have all heard of Jelly Fish, but what about Peanut Butter Fish? If you found a fish in your peanut butter, would you take the jar back and demand a refund, or would you dive right in and smear the tainted spread across your sandwich? What about finding a fish in…
Guatemala’s Fish Face Threat From Aquatic Invader (Hydrilla)
By Patrick CooneySitting just south of Mexico, Guatemala is a gorgeous country littered with ancient civilizations and beautiful landscapes. Similar to how European invaders wiped out native people throughout Guatemala and the “New World”, a recent plant invasion from Asia has people worried that native fishes that serve as a major food source may be…
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