Another fun program at Beczak Environmental Education Center: Hudson River Fish Families. We learned about different species of fish which inhabit the three different water zones of the Hudson River estuary: fresh, brackish and salt water.
Northern Pipefish are relatives of seahorses. They live in brackish water, and hide from predators by disguising themselves as sea grass. Seahorses (which are very rarely caught in Beczak's sein nets) are salt water dwellers which feed on tiny crustaceans. Both species are unusual in that it is the father that carries the young.
Mummichogs and Banded Killifish are members of the Killifish family. They are slow moving fish with rounded tails, which avoid predators by schooling to look like one very big fish. They live in brackish water and eat plants, crustaceans and insects. They are sometimes used to control the mosquito population.
White Perch are actually not perch, but bass, and are related to the Striped Bass. These fish have a sharp dorsal fin for protection from predators, and they are built for speed with a forked tail. The White Perch lives in brackish water and eats fish eggs.
The Striped Bass is anadromous-- it is born in fresh water, spends two winters in brackish water, and then moves out to sea, maturing in salt water, and eventually returning to fresh water to spawn.
The kids did a worksheet activity, coloring in pictures of Striped Bass at various stages of their life cycle, cutting them out and pasting them in the correct type of water. Afterwards, they got a look at some tadpoles, some of which had started developing rear legs.
And we watched the Red Eared Sliders having fish for lunch:
Our other family pet is a Slider named Shelly Red Streak. She lives upstairs in our bathroom, a place I generally don't carry a camera. I'll have to remember to take some photos of her to post here...
No comments:
Post a Comment