Illustrating the Eggs

Each year, students at Northeast Elementary in Ithaca, NY  raise brook trout.  As will all our Brook Trout classes, they receive eggs in early November but have to wait a week or more for the eggs to hatch.  Here's a great activity to help the time pass.

Master Teacher Paula Kilts (who recently retired and we miss her already!) would introduce scientific illustration... carefully drawing what you see... as a way to begin important observations, and get the creative juices flowing, even before the eggs hatch.

The end result combines careful observation and illustration with a little poetry.  These works will be the first in a series of journaling activities as the trout develop and grow!

Brook Trout Eggs have Arrived!

Brook trout eggs were delivered on November 8, courtesy of our friends at US Fish & Wildlife's Cortland office (thanks Gian Dodici!) and the DEC's hatchery in Morrisville, NY.  

Notice the visible eyes... these eggs will be hatching soon!

Today was a reminder that we've still a ways to go to get back to normal.  The arrival of eggs is usually a boisterous event, with students mobbing the tank, excited and asking lots of questions.  This year, we're still keeping it low key, but we're excited to be visiting classes again! ~Bill F.

DO TROUT YAWN?

We'll be publishing interesting questions that come up when we visit classes... sometimes we might even provide an answer!  Here's our first installment, asked by Saatva, and Cayuga Heights Elementary.

Do Fish Yawn?

This is a surprisingly complex question, because we don’t actually know quite how to define a “yawn”.  And that's because we don’t actually know what “yawning” does. 

The most convincing theory currently (many have been disproven over the years) is that yawning serves to cool down the mammalian brain, which fatigues as it warms up. If that is the case, than it is unlikely to benefit fish since, as "ectotherms" - cold blooded animals - their body temperature is controlled by their environment anyway. SO, if that sounds right to you, than the answer would be, "No, fish do not yawn."  BUT, if you are not convinced that yawning cools your brain, and there must be some other explanation… than maybe they do!  Here are some cool pix to help you consider...

(Shout out to www.thenakedscientists.com for great take on this subject.)