Welcome to the fifth edition of Fish Bites! This e-newsletter is made specifically for students, parents and teachers. Expect to receive Fish Bites about four times each year and have your friends sign-up too!
Scientists can tell how old a fish is by reading the growth rings on the fish scales - almost just like growth rings are used to tell how old a tree is.
A person who studies fish is called an ichthyologist
(pronounced: ick-thee-all-o-just).
Salmon have teeth on the roof of their mouth, tongue,
jaws and throat. These small teeth help prevent prey from escaping from their
mouths.
A female Chinook salmon can lay up to 7,000 eggs.
Chinook salmon are also called King salmon.
Water Stewardship
Check out
this free online game offered by the Michigan Water Stewardship Program and discover actions that make you a good water steward!
The happy residents
of Sweetwater Village love their town – the fresh Great Lakes air, the friendly
neighbors, the talking squirrels (just kidding) – but most especially they love
the sparkling, clean waters of Sweetwater Lake.
YOU have just been elected the new mayor of this pleasant village and now must
make decisions that will affect the quality of water in Sweetwater Lake.
Sweetwater Lake's AmBASSador
will escort you during your journey.
Throughout the game your choices as mayor determine whether Sweetwater Village
remains a thriving, beautiful town, or if the town is abandoned as Sweetwater
Lake degrades into Stinkwater Pond.
You will be able to tell if your decisions are making the AmBASSador angry!
Smallmouth bass are a native fish to
Michigan and have two dorsal fins with spinous and soft-rayed portions united, a
body that is longer than it is deep, an upper jaw that doesn't extend past the eye,
and bronze streaks in the cheek.
Both the smallmouth and the
largemouth bass - the black bass of the sunfish family - are top game fish with
lots of fight and fine-tasting flesh.
The smallmouth bass derives its name
from the fact that the rear end of the lower jaw does not extend past the eye,
while that of a largemouth does. Smallmouth bass reside in Great Lakes bays
where waters are cool and clear, and the bottom is rock or gravel. Ideal
smallmouth habitat contains protective cover such as shoal rocks, talus slopes,
and submerged logs. Their preferred water temperature is 68-70 degrees F,
cooler than that of the largemouth bass, but they are still considered a
warmwater fish.
Spawning activity begins in the
spring when water temperatures reach 60 degrees F or more. The male builds a
nest in quiet water, usually near shore, or downstream from an obstruction that
causes a break in the current. Since the male will guard the eggs and the newly
hatched fry, the nest is never far from deep water, or cover, where he can
retreat when frightened. The eggs, which are larger than those of the
largemouth bass, hatch in two to three days. Then the newly hatched
light-colored fry drop down into the bottom of the gravel nest for three or
more days.
By the time the fry work their way
out of the gravel on the ninth or tenth day, they are very dark in color. Under
the watchful eye of the male, they swim in a dense dark cloud over the nest for
a few days, then begin to disperse.
Smallmouth bass mature at age three
or four, and occasionally live to be 10 to 12 years old. The usual smallmouth
seen by anglers is eight to 15 inches long, and weighs less than three pounds.
