Trout Live Food Experiment

The second graders at Cayuga Heights completed their first trout experiment today with the help of Trout in the Classroom instructors Bill, Michael, and Josh. (Big thank you to them!) Students had to make a hypothesis about whether or not the trout fry would eat the live food (daphnia) placed in a beaker with each fry.  The students created a hypothesis based on their previous knowledge of the trout and their eating patterns. Then students tested their hypothesis with a group by feeding live daphnia to a trout and counting the number of daphnia eaten (out of about 10) over 5 minutes.

Most students predicted that their trout would instinctively know to eat the daphnia and the majority proved their hypothesis to be correct. One trout must not have been too hungry during the experiment and opted not to eat any daphnia. The majority of the trout ate all the daphnia presented to them during the experiment. Enjoy some photos below!

We also learned an important lesson from our trout this week... never bite off more than you can chew. This little guy didn't survive the week after he indulged on one of his tank-mates.

Color Adaptations in Trout

Our trout are now in their "parr" stage and are developing distinctive colors and patterns. We have been visiting classes with a slide presentation science-inquiry illustration activity to explore these color adaptations. Our Brown Trout, in particular, are able to change colors to blend in with habitat features, and several classes will be setting up experiments over the coming weeks to observe this phenomenon.

Trout are not the only fish that can change color. Flounders, like the one on the right, are masters of this skill.

How do they do it? They use special cells called chromatophores! For a quick intro to fish coloration. You can see chromatophores up-close here. Fascinating stuff!

Fish living in darker locations tend to take on darker colors, but did you know that blind fish turn dark colors, as well? Check out the links in "On-line Resources" if want to know more.

Trout Feeding Advice!

Advice on feeding your trout from last year's Experts!

NATIVE BROOK TROUT ARE HERE!

We are very happy to announce year-2 of our foray into raising native brook trout!  Four groups of students (Lansing 10th graders, Dryden 5th graders, Ithaca 4th graders at Northeast and Enfield schools) received brook trout eggs in late November, and we will check in on them periodically.  Finger Lakes Regional Parks personnel have also initiated a stream survey to select appropriate stream sites for future releases.  We would like to thank faculty and students at Cornell University, and Finger Lakes Regional Parks staff, for their invaluable input!

Josh Teeter (Fingerlakes Regional Parks- FLRP), TJ Ross & Cassie Garcia (Cornell Dept. of Nat. Res.) head upstream.  TJ is wearing an electro-shock kit that will temporarily stun fish.  Photo by Tom Hughes (FLRP).

One beautiful brown trout!

Naturally reproducing rainbow trout are also present in this stretch of Enfield Creek.

Leaving the Nest

Hello from Caroline Elementary!! We are super excited to be hosting Brown Trout for the 3rd time! This year our trout are very spunky and have been darting and dashing around the hatch basket. They have just started leaving it and are seeking the depths of the tank.

We have been charting our data everyday and have had zero fatalities in the last 2 weeks! We estimate that about 75% of the trout will survive! We will continue with our updates and look forward to reading all of the others.


 

We have a small "hole" in the rocks at the bottom of the tank where some of the glass is exposed. This is where the trout have been loving to congregate. Others have been staying near the safety of the hatch basket.

2011-2012 PROGRAM IS OFF AND RUNNING!

Very early on Monday, October 24, our intrepid volunteers made the trip to the Bath, NY, hatchery to pick up Brown Trout eggs for 10 of the 14 schools participating this year.

Thanks to Michael, Owen, Josh & Ken, we succesfully delivered eggs to Beverly J. Martin, Belle Sherman, Caroline, Cayuga Heights, Enfield, Fall Creek & South Hill elementary schools in Ithaca; Groton and Newfield Middle Schools and Trumansburg High School.

Additional schools will be receiving Brook Trout eggs in mid-November: Northeast elementary, Boynton Middle School, Lansing High School & Dryden Elementary. Our network of schools is growing each year.

Stay tuned for news and images from each participating school in upcoming weeks, as students get to know their fish!

Enfield Trout Release Day