Big Eyes

 

Our Cornell Biology Service Leaders, Jane and Iman, visited Ms. Anderson's class at BOCES today, and checked in with students raising brown trout.  The students went through feeding and water quality testing practices, and discussed options to resolve a high nitrite level in the water, which is potentially dangerous for the young trout. 

 

We have time for a little up-close observation, also.  Here, you can see the external structure of the eyes on these 6 week old browns.  Notice how the lens of the eyes are round, and extend away from the body on each side of the head.  What type of adaptation might this be?

Trout in the Classroom 2017-2018 is GO!

Floating Classroom staff and volunteers from Trout Unlimited delivered brown trout eggs to 11 schools on October 16 this year.   The program is off and running!  With support from New York DEC, we also had students from South Hill, BJM & Caroline elementary schools tour DEC's Bath NY Fish Hatchery to find out where their eggs come from.

Thanks to Aaron and Chuck, and hatchery manager Ken, for great tours!

Checking out new rainbows!

 

All about Trout, in the hatching building.

 

 

Peeking under the cove to see yearling Lake Trout- they like it dark!
 

Classes are beginning to prepare for spring trout releases, and we'll be visiting to help out. Today, Mariah visited Newfield Middle School 7th graders in Lauren Hamilton's science class, and helped students learn how to evaluate the health of a stream using insects.  We'll be visiting all 17 schools, and over 30 classrooms this month!

 
Our session starts with some review- insect life cycles, stream foodwebs, and
what trout need to survive.

Then, its time to pick through some live stream samples, collected by Bill and Mariah before class...

Students use dichotomous keys to identify as many insects and other invertebrates as they can in their sample

. 
This Izaak Walton League Stream Assessment Rubric creates a score for our stream, based on the insects we find.  (Scores for Lick Brook ranged from 17-23.)

Finally, we verify that these insects and our trout are part of the same food chain.  Always ask for verification!