I was out on the bayou (Louisiana) with graduate students today, collecting fishes for one of their projects. We were targeting Spotted Gars, but ran into an unusual abundance of Largemouth Bass. This got me thinking about “the most popular sport fish” in the USA: the Black Basses. Although many anglers and fish enthusiasts are…
Category: Ecology: Organisms & Habitats
Repeat spawner series: “Winter: the forgotten study season”
At the Fisheries Blog, we’re starting a new series of posts, once a month, where we bring back “oldie but goodie” posts from our now extensive archive. Rest assured, these “repeat spawner” posts, smell a whole lot better than that leftover fish you found in the fridge from two weeks ago!
Uptake of the IPBES Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) recently released its Global Assessment. Broadly, the report finds that nature (marine, aquatic, and terrestrial systems) is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history.
Hot Take on Our Planet: Freshwater Biodiversity
Big-budget nature documentaries are chronically ignoring freshwater biodiversity relative to terrestrial and marine systems…
Good addition? Or bad invader? Chinook Salmon in South America
Throughout North America, ongoing resource management and restoration projects aim to conserve Chinook Salmon because their populations have been threatened by many ecological factors, including habitat change, high harvest rates, and hatchery influence. In contrast, these fish are known as an invasive species in the Southern Hemisphere, having been introduced (and continuing to spread) to rivers of the Patagonia and Magellan regions of Chile and Argentina…
Pet Fish or Alien Invader?
Although dogs and cats are the most recognizable pets in the United States, did you know, freshwater fishes are the most popular pets by number?
Removing migration barriers for Steelhead Trout
Pictures and videos detail the removal of migration barriers to Steelhead Trout in the Pacific Northwest.
Gila Trout: A Native Trout Conservation Story
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…
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)…
