It’s not hard for everyday citizens to take a position on mountaintop coal mining. The web is scattered with nasty before-and-after photos of mine sites and gripping narratives of environmental degradation. But sometimes it can be tough to hear the science over the screaming. After all, few of us spend time digging through scientific literature…
Do fish sleep?
Most fish do sleep. While most fish don’t have eyelids, they do have a regular period of reduced activity and metabolism.
Road Salts in Your (Ground) Water
As the latest of what seems like an endless conveyor belt of winter storms hits the middle and eastern portions of the US, it’s worth considering not only the record amount of snow that has fallen in many places, but the vast amounts of road salt that have been used this winter. One estimate of…
Coal-ash goes unchecked
By: Dana Sackett When most people think of pollution caused by coal-burning power plants, a tall smokestack spewing a large cloud of soot and fumes is the first image that comes to mind. This image represents the air pollution caused by coal combustion and is perhaps the most obvious. In actuality, there are many less…
Strange Spawning: interesting reproductive fish facts exposed
by Brandon Peoples We’ve written indirectly about some strange spawning here on The Fisheries Blog…like how Nemo was a hermaphrodite who would have mated with his female dad …or how bluehead chubs want to spawn so bad, they’ll carry rocks twice the size of their head to build massive reproductive pyramids…or even how salmon travel…
Earning a PhD: A Family Affair
by Jennifer Cochran Biederman, guest author As a little girl, my dad (a fish biologist and college professor) never read me the classic storybooks – you know, those ones bursting with bright, colorful illustrations and creative story-lines about cute hungry caterpillars or precocious talking cats. Instead, each night, I would curl up at the end…
Fact or Fiction: The 10 Question Fish Quiz!
By Patrick Cooney Do you often fall for farce over fact? Take a quick look at the following fish stories and see if you can discern the real from the ludicrous. Once you have decided on all 10, check out the answers towards the bottom. Leave a note in the comments (or take the poll)…
Funny fish: common names that aren’t so common
With fish make up more than half of the estimated 54,711 recognized living vertebrate species (animals with a vertebral column), coming up with common names for all of those fish species is quite a task.
Of Fish, Mice, and Leukemia
Let me say up front that we at The Fisheries Blog are in no way qualified to dispense medical advice. We do, however, get excited when the potential for scientific and medical breakthroughs make news. And we get even more excited when those breakthroughs involve fish. Most of you have probably heard about the benefits…
Through the Ears of a Fish
by Ed Kluender, guest blogger Ask a fish its age or where it’s been and what it ate for lunch, and chances are it couldn’t tell you. It could probably hear your question, though, with the help of its inner ear bones, called otoliths. Otoliths are one of the most useful tools in a fish…
Q-tip anyone?
By Dana Sackett You may have come across a video or two (or ten) of sharks munching down on dead whales and it’s easy to understand how a few sharks may get excited over encountering all that easily acquired energy-rich blubber. However, sharks are not the only ones that can benefit from these large dead…
Reflections on 2013
It has been a great 2013 for The Fisheries Blog as we’ve seen our audience grow, largely as our topics and writers have increased. To finish up the year, we will borrow a concept from others and give you what you are truly craving—the best of 2013! But before we hit the highlights, listen to Patrick Cooney,…
Happy Holidays from The Fisheries Blog!
Happy Holidays from The Fisheries Blog! Dr. Abigail Lynch, Patrick Cooney, Brandon Peoples, Dr. Dana Sackett, and Dr. Steve Midway thank you for another great year! Please check in next Monday for highlights on our articles and guests from 2013. Be sure to like The Fisheries Blog on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@FisheriesBlog).
Dolphin Deaths a Boon for Sharks?
By Tobey Curtis, Guest Blogger It’s been a tough year to be a dolphin. The Miami NFL football players aren’t the only dolphins making headlines lately. Over the last year there have been hundreds of mysterious dolphin deaths along the US Atlantic coast. By late summer, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had declared…
One Fish, Two Fish, Where Fish for Whitefish?
Currently, the Great Lakes Lake Whitefish fishery is the most economically valuable commercial fishery in the upper Great Lakes.
The Fisheries Blog 