by Brandon Peoples Meet the blobfish, one of my favorite underwater underdogs. The blobfish lives in incredibly deep water (up to 4,000 feet!) off the coast of Australia, where it whiles away the days hovering over the bottom and eating whatever drifts in front of it. Blobfish aren’t exactly the most charming fish in the sea. Source…
Thanksgiving Fish: The Missing Ingredient
By Steve Midway As many of us in the U.S. prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday later this week, a litany of traditional foods comes to mind: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie. Indeed—in some form or another—many of these foods were present at the first Thanksgiving. However, conspicuously absent from both the traditional…
Top 5 Most Poisonous and Venomous Fish!
By Dana Sackett Many TV shows and nature guides have been dedicated to educating the public on the most poisonous and venomous spiders, snakes and even frogs, but what about fish? Unlike spiders or snakes, we rarely hear about which fish are the most poisonous (or venomous). This week we are dedicating our blog post…
The Swimming Dead: Videos of Zombie Fish
By Patrick Cooney Like an underwater horror show, I filmed dead fish swimming amongst the living last week in a coastal river of western Washington. Or at least, the zombie fish looked like they were dead. Nowhere is the “Circle of Life” more apparent than in a river during salmon spawning season. Years after leaving the comforts of freshwater…
Song of Summers Past
By Craig Springer, Guest Blogger With this autumn’s leaves shedding, it gives one pause for all those summers that have slipped downstream. Sun-drenched memories are joyful like an Allman Brothers song. Don’t fly mister bluebird, I’m just walking down the road. Early morning sunshine tells me all I need to know. In memory, the buzz…
Scary stuff!
by Brandon Peoples It’s a quiet autumn night. The full moon barely penetrates the thick, low-hanging fog. An unsuspecting group is returning home from their evening activities. They’re in a dangerous area, but they know they’ll be safe if they stick together and move quickly. They’ve been lulled into a false sense of security…
Paid to go fishing
by Ed Kluender, Guest Blogger It’s happened to most of us in fisheries field research, whether loading up the shock boat at a ramp, stopped at a gas station for tater wedges and bad coffee, or on the river when you run into someone who’s paying a guide to be there for nearly the…
When the quick cure causes long-term danger: Who knew antibiotics could be such a problem?
by Dr. Dana Sackett Whether for an ear infection or something more serious, chances are we have all had to take antibiotics at one point in our lives. Despite this regular use of antibiotics, few people know where they come from or that our overuse of these drugs are causing some serious problems in our…
The Four "Fs" of Fish
We recently had the distinct pleasure of meeting Abby Lynch, a fisheries research scientist with Michigan State University. Please read her great story below and look for more from her on The Fisheries Blog in the coming months. Some time ago, on my way back home after an international trip, I was asked by the…
The Other Side of Fall Leaves
By Steve Midway Around this time of year throughout much of the northern hemisphere, we take pause to notice the beautiful spectrum of colors presented in fall foliage. Have you ever wondered what happens to all of those leaves, where they go, and what types of animals may benefit from this fall bounty? Leaves change…
The Role of Social Media in Fisheries Science
Brandon Peoples (@FisheriesBlog) Let me tell you a little secret: I don’t have a smart phone or keep up with Game of Thrones. As a matter of fact, for a younger guy, I’m pretty old-school. Accordingly, I was a huge skeptic of online social media…but I’ve always seen the value of non-technical communication in science….
Topless Mermaid Protestor Misunderstands Scientists
By Patrick Cooney Mermaids misunderstand scientists that are presenting in hotel behind (source). In the 1980s box office hit titled Splash, a scientist nearly goes mad while attempting to advance his cause by exploiting a mermaid. As if making a reference to the movie, but in a complete reversal of roles, a topless mermaid took…
Is the Kiddie Pool Safe? Pollution in Coastal Fish Nurseries Affects Offshore Populations
By Tobey Curtis Do you take your young kids to a daycare or nursery? These are places where we expect our children to be, at minimum, safe and nurtured. Nurseries help ensure survival and growth to a well-adjusted adulthood. It turns out that many ocean-going fish use the same strategy for their young. It has…
Come see our presentation
If you are going to be at the American Fisheries Society meeting this coming week in Little Rock Arkansas, be sure to see our presentation: Communicating Fisheries Science to an Internet Audience Tuesday morning (10:40am, 09/10/2013) Fulton Room
How Obama’s fish made me question my view of "species"
By Brandon Peoples Just what “is” a fish species? Etheostoma clinton may say, “…it depends on your definition of ‘is’.” Last year, researchers Steve Layman and Richard Mayden discovered five new species of darter—tiny colorful fishes in the perch family. They named the new species after “environmentally-minded” politicians, most notably Barack Obama (Teddy Roosevelt and…
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