Plip. That’s the sound of a barbless beadhead nymph falling into a glassy glide of Mineral Creek, a headwater stream of the Gila River in southwest New Mexico. There’s a short drift over a stony run, barely time to mend your line. Then follows that transmutation of fish flesh to your forearm—the taut tug of…
Category: Ecology: Organisms & Habitats
Clearly, the coolest fish in the sea
With its clear head and large green eyes, the Barreleye looks like an alien with a glass bulb on its head out of a sci-fi film…why does a fish need a transparent head?
Stalking the Elusive Shoal Bass
Guest Author: Amy Cottrell Editor: Solomon David The sun began creeping up over the tree tops and casting morning shadows and specks of daylight on the water surface, slowly lighting up more and more of the heavily vegetated creek bank. We paddled the quiet corridor, antenna rotating side to side in front of me as…
Fishing for Native Trout Leaves a Special Longing
Craig Springer, USFWS “Longing is the heart’s treasury.” —St. Augustine From nearly anywhere in my Santa Fe County home, I have the most fortunate view of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It’s where the Rockies start in New Mexico. As I write this, day bleeds into night, that period when the Muses visit painters and…
Red Tide
Karenia brevis is the scientific name for a single-celled marine dinoflagellate known for its toxicity, which can manifest in high concentrations as a “red tide.” This dinoflagellate and the red tides that it produces are not new. Ocean waters are home to many dinoflagellates and other types of plankton. The problem arises when populations become…
Artifacts of epochs past: Rio Grande cutthroat trout benefit from private lands conservation
By Craig Springer One might say that the past is dead and gone—but that notion doesn’t fly on the Vermejo Park Ranch, near Raton, New Mexico. Managers of this private land seek to restore long reaches of mountain streams for the benefit of native Rio Grande cutthroat trout—not to mention the guided anglers who seek…
Electrofrogging: Zapping frogs on the front-line of invasion
Bullfrogs eat just about anything, including fish, mammals, crustaceans, and other amphibians, hence the concern with their introduction. Electrofrogging is an effective technique to interrupt their forward march.
Jurassic World Fishes [Swimming Today]
Sharp teeth, bizarre shapes, gargantuan sizes, and a family tree that dates back over 100 million years…I’m not talking about dinosaurs, but ancient freshwater fishes! Twenty-five years ago today (June 11, 1993), Jurassic Park debuted in theaters. That date is fossilized in my mind because I recorded the trailer on VHS (wow, talk about ancient)…
The ideal invasive fish
There are hundreds of non-native fishes in the US. Some become harmful invaders, while others have established, but aren’t causing appreciable negative effects. As human transport networks continue to facilitate new introductions, it makes sense to ask, ‘is there something special about certain fishes that make them invasive?’. This isn’t a new idea—plant ecologists have discussed…
Radios Reveal Wandering Habits of Smallmouth Bass in Oklahoma: Angler-funded research lends greater understanding of one of America’s greatest sport fish
By Craig Springer, USFWS About the time that redbuds flash their pretty pinkish blooms on eastern Oklahoma’s hillsides and gray streamside sycamores unfurl their fresh leaves the color akin to a wet lime, there’s something curious going on. And it goes mostly sight unseen. Smallmouth bass are on the move with the singular purpose of…
