By: Dana Sackett, PhD As Earth Day approaches, it seems timely to pause and examine some of the natural processes that enable life on Earth. Remarkably, this big topic requires us to take a look at some of the smallest organisms on the planet. Microorganisms (or organisms that cannot be seen with the naked eye…
Category: Ecology: Organisms & Habitats
Spawning in strange waters: how hybridization affects native fishes
By Ed Kluender, guest blogger Hybrid creatures are one of the most common tropes of both goofy and great horror movies (think The Fly or countless werewolf movies), and plenty of them are at least half fish – Creature, Piranhaconda, and the Sharktopus franchise. Most of those films have a pretty shaky basis in reality,…
The value of a species
By: Dana Sackett According to some scientists the earth is currently undergoing the sixth mass extinction crisis in the last half-billion years. Some have described this current crisis as the largest loss of plants and animals since the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. With so much loss it is hard to understand how these extinctions…
Predators reject yellow perch egg skeins
Yellow perch produce eggs in gelatinous ribbons, but so far nobody knows why. We explored this peculiar trait by conducted some experiments to see if these ribbons protect eggs from predators. Helpless and delicious. Fish eggs and larvae are an energy-rich meal for predators. For some species, predator consumption of eggs and larvae can reach up…
The 7 Wonderful Pikes, Pickerels, and Muskies of the World!
Guest Author: Sasha Doss Editor: Patrick Cooney Artist: Hannah Dean White Sox, Red Sox, Esox. People obsess more about one of these three “sox” than the other two. Only fisherpeople will know which one prevails. Studying Muskellunge has been such a wonderful experience. Many of my days over the past few years as a graduate…
Dananananananana BAT RAY
Like Gotham’s caped crusader, Bat Rays soar through their surroundings. The Bat Ray is a key benthic predator and a model example of unique sensory adaptations, making the Bat Ray a hero in its own right!
Black Bass Diversity and Conservation: The Challenge Continues
Guest writer: Andrew Taylor Editor: Patrick Cooney I. The Species Question In a recent article, The Fisheries Blog asked the question: How many black bass (genus Micropterus) species are there? As it turned out, the article demonstrated that the answer is quite complicated. That previous post highlighted the nine species that the majority of black…
Fish of the People: Summit Lake Lahontan Cutthroat Trout
by Guest Author, Erin Loury Amid snow-capped peaks in a remote stretch of sagebrush-covered Nevada desert sits Summit Lake, a watery refuge for the stunning and threatened Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. Thought to be the largest growing inland trout in North America, Lahontan Cutthroat can reach 50 inches and 40 pounds, though stories from mining boom…
How long can fish live?
While a pet Goldfish has a typical lifespan of 6-7 years, your average aquarium fish cannot compare to these short-lived and long-lived species!
Do fish have ears? And if so, what impacts do people have on their ability to hear?
By: Dana Sackett At first glance, fish don’t appear to have ears, but that doesn’t mean they can’t hear. While there are usually no openings on a fish’s head for sound to enter, they do have inner ears that pick-up sound through their body. In fact, many fish rely on their ears to find habitat…
Black Bass: How many species are there?
Guest Author: Tim Bonvechio; Editor: Patrick Cooney Black bass are the most popular freshwater sportfish in the USA. Their popularity as a sportfish has expanded their distribution from North America to around the world through human introductions. While Largemouth Bass and Smallmouth Bass are arguably the most widely known and dispersed black bass species, there is…
Finding Dory’s memory : Do fish remember?
Dory, the goofy, lovable Blue Tang adds comic relief with her short-term memory loss. Do fish actually remember?
Neighborhood watch: rising threats to freshwater fishes
By Stephanie Januchowski-Hartley, Guest Blogger Illustrations by Hannah Dean Imagine you live in a small neighborhood with limited places to access food or resources. What if, in addition to living in a small neighborhood, 30% of your neighborhood were also under an activity that impacts you in a negative way? Say it is under construction and you can’t…
Breeding colors of freshwater fishes
You don’t have to fly to Cozumel to see pretty fishes. Freshwater fishes are amazingly colorful, but are underrated. Fish enthusiasts and divers often flock to tropical latitudes and coral reefs to see exotic, specimens. However, some of the most eye-catching specimens are swimming in North American streams at this very moment. It’s spawning season…
Nemo isn’t the only transgender fish in the sea
By Lindsay Glass Campbell, Guest Blogger Out to burst the bubble of Disney enthusiasts everywhere comes the revelation that Flounder of the Little Mermaid might have been an XX-male fish. It’s not just Nemo who is deceiving you! Then again, the fish named Flounder in the cartoon has no real resemblance to an actual flounder…
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