Welcome to the second 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!
Most fish are shrouded in scales which are often covered in a layer of slime to help them move through water - it's the slime that makes them feel slippery!
A fish can drown in water. Like humans, fish need oxygen, so if there isn't enough oxygen in the water, they will suffocate and die.
Most brands of lipstick contain fish scales to give them that shimmery look! But you won't find "fish scales" on the ingredient list because a product called pearl essence or pearlesence is made from the fish scales and added to the lipstick as well as many other cosmetics.
There are about 32,000 species of fish in the world and scientists are still discovering new species every day!
Water Stewardship
There was a time, long ago, when fish and wildlife species moved freely up and down our waterways. However, we built dams to produce electricity and constructed roads over waterways so people could get from one place to another. These structures blocked fish and wildlife from moving freely. However, today biologists are helping fish and wildlife with good water stewardship practices!
Today most of the old electrical dams no longer produce electricity, so biologists are removing them so fish and other wildlife species, like turtles, can move up and down our waterways and on the banks of our streams and rivers. This allows fish to swim to their native spawning grounds to reproduce, and enables many wildlife species to reach valuable natural resources and habitat where they can find more food, shelter and raise their young.
As we repair and upgrade our roads that cross waterways, the culverts (big pipes) underneath the roads are being replaced with larger ones that allow water to flow naturally below the roadways with strips of land along the water inside the pipes for wildlife species to use as their own roadways! Removing old dams and replacing culverts are examples of good water stewardship practices to help Michigan’s many fish and wildlife species. Maybe you would like to be a biologist when you grow up?
Lake sturgeon are a unique fish species in Michigan. These fish primarily live in large river and lake systems in the Great Lakes basins, Mississippi River and Hudson Bay. They are an important biological component of the Great Lakes fish community. Lake sturgeon are listed as a threatened species in Michigan and are either threatened or endangered by 19 of the 20 states within their original range in the U.S.
Lake sturgeon are Michigan’s largest fish as they may reach lengths of seven feet and weigh as much as 200 pounds! These prehistoric beauties have no scales and can live to be more than 100 years old!
Lake sturgeon are often considered a nearshore, warmwater species preferring water temperatures in the mid-50 to low-70 degrees. Lake sturgeon are benthivores, which means they feed on small invertebrates such as insect larvae, crayfish, snails, clams and leeches they find along the bottom of lakes and rivers.
The Fisheries Division of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is working to help increase the reproduction of lake sturgeon in many areas of our state where their populations have dropped significantly due to habitat loss and poaching (catching and keeping these fish illegally). If you would like to learn more about lake sturgeon please visit DNR’s website or contact the Sturgeon for Tomorrow chapter closest to your home.
