Fish

A Salmon Fit for a King

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photo: California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program

Hook-and-line monitoring surveys of central California’s new Marine Protected Areas yield catches mostly of different species of rockfishes, but every once in a while we reel in a surprise.  Ichthyology student Katie Schmidt shows off a King Salmon (the only one of the whole survey!) caught at Año Nuevo in 2009 during a survey by the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program.  We released the fish, despite the hungry looks of Captain Tom Mattusch, who is possibly envisioning some fillets served with a lemon wedge…

Sweet Success: Thesis Defense on Striped Bass Takes the Cake

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Jon and his thesis subject! (photo: D. Haas)

Congratulations to Ichthyology student Jon Walsh, who recently defended his thesis: “Habitat Use of Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis), estimated from otolith microchemistry, in the San Francisco Estuary, and its effect on total mercury and heavy metal body burden upon capture.”

Jon used the chemical composition of otoliths, or fish ear bones, to track where a fish had traveled throughout its lifetime in San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.  He also looked at heavy metal contamination in the fish fillets and found high levels of mercury had accumulated in the fish.  Luckily, this striped bass cake creation by Diane Haas is mercury free!

What a catch! (photo: D. Haas)

The Pelvic Fin Ray is Connected to the What Now?

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photo: E. Loury

With another successful Open House behind us (thank you to all of you who joined us!), MLML students will be hitting the books for the next few weeks leading up to final exams and lab practicals.   These ichthyology students are dissecting fish specimens to better learn their bone and muscle structure – and maybe getting a little slimy in the process!

Drop-In to MLML Open House: The Fish was THIS BIG!

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photo: E. Loury

Visitors to the 2010 Open House pay their respects to a large Mahi-mahi laid out in state.  We will have some other interesting fish on ice for you to take a close look at this year.  Can you imagine making a painted print of a fish this size? Some MLML students actually gave it a try! You can make your own fishy artwork at our fish-printing station, be sure to stop by!

MLML Open House is Saturday, April 30 & Sunday, May 1.

Drop-In to MLML Open House: Hagfish Slimefest

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photo: E. Loury

How basic can you be and still be called a fish? With no eyes and no jaws, hagfish would certainly take the prize.  They aren’t all about minimalism, though – they actually have five hearts!  What makes these simple fish fascinating is the defense that earns them the name “slime eel.”  Come to the Icthyology Lab during Open House to watch the hagfish exude some of their slimey goodness – it sure makes for some fun photo taking!  (Marine scientist love slime…)

MLML Open House is Saturday, April 30 & Sunday, May 1.

photo: D. Haas

Drop-In to MLML Open House: This Fish Isn’t Too Cool For School!

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Fish skeletons displayed in the Ichthyology Lab (photo: D. Spear-Hooton)

This sunglass-wearing fish skeleton thinks MLML is the coolest!  When you come to the MLML Open House, be sure to take a stroll around the Ichthyology Lab.  The fish skeletons reconstructed by MLML students are sure to impress you.  The guy wearing the sunglasses is a giant seabass, while the large fish skull in the foreground is from a Hawaiian grouper.  They hope you’ll say aloha in a couple of weeks!

MLML Open House is Saturday, April 30 & Sunday, May 1.

photo: E. Loury

Drop-Into MLML Open House: Try Gyotaku, aka Fish Printing

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Join us for fishpainting!

Have you ever tried fish printing?  It’s easy: choose your favorite fish, apply the paint, press and BOOM you have an amazing fish print.  Label your artistic masterpiece and let it dry while you explore the rest of the Open House.  Making fish prints is a great way to learn about the fish located here in Monterey Bay and have some fun!

MLML Open House 2011: Saturday, April 30 & Sunday, May 1.

Drop-In to MLML Open House: So Many Different Kinds of Fishes!

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Explore the Ichthyology (FISH) Lab for neat fishes!

Make sure to stop by the Ichthyology Lab during Open House and see the different kinds of fishes we have in Monterey Bay.  They have many skeletons of fish – be sure to examine the teeth of the fishes and see how their shape is adapted to eating different kinds of food.  The wolf eel above can eat abalone and use its large mouth to swallow them!

The Pirate Puffer fish does not actually exist, but if it did it would have a wooden fin!

MLML Open House is Saturday, April 30 & Sunday, May 1.