15 replies to this topic

[Michael Wolfe]

NANFA Georgia will be cooperating with the Biology Department of Reinhardt University for the Reinhardt Bioblitz on April 2nd and 3rd on the campus of Reinhardt University in Waleska, Georgia. Dr. Zach Felix has invited us to participate in the Reinhardt Bioblitz and act as the icthyological support for the day. We will be demonstrating seining techniques and helping to identify species in Moore’s Mill Creek which borders directly on the Reinhardt campus.

Moore’s Mill Creek is a major tributary of Shoal Creek in the Etowah River Drainage in North Georgia. The Etowah Drainage is home to a number of interesting and endemic species. Since there are several protected species in this drainage, it will be critical that we properly identify what we are seeing, and collection of fish will thus be somewhat limited. Observation and identification will be our primary focus with photo tanks and observation tanks set up streamside.

This is a great opportunity to spread the word about NANFA while at the same time helping the Reinhardt University Biology Department. We will have the opportunity “to increase and disseminate knowledge about North America's native fishes and their habitats among aquarium hobbyists, biologists, fish and wildlife officials, anglers, educators, students, and others.” And through our words and actions we will “promote the conservation of native fishes and the protection/ restoration of natural habitats.” What could be better?

I will be there and am looking for help and participation from the rest of y’all here in Georgia (and the surrounding area) to support NANFA and the fishes. Please contact me if you will be able to join us for either of these days of fun and fish.

We will develop a more detailed plan as we get closer to the actual date, but I wanted to get the word out now so that you can all make your plans to join us in Waleska!

[Michael Wolfe]

Bumping this as a reminder... we are getting close... just a couple more weekends...

I have a call Saturday morning with Zach to get some details ironed out, so I hope that I will be contacting those of you that have told me you are interested with a more specific plan.

If you are interested in helping out, please let me know.

[Michael Wolfe]

Well, I am really late with this… because the event was last weekend… but I wanted to let you all know how proud you should be of NANFA.

In case you don’t remember, NANFA was asked to support Dr. Zach Felix and his students at Reinhardt University in Waleska, Georgia with their annual Bioblitz… in which the students try to identify as many vertebrate species in one day as they can on the grounds of their very own college campus. And NANFA was asked to help with the fishy part of the survey. We had six NANFAns participate… me, Alejandro Perez, Doug Dame, John Parnell, and the father and son team of Geoff and Noah Kimber. Dr. Felix had created some teamwork and competition by dividing the students into three groups and challenging them to each find the most possible species. So we divided the NANFAns into pairs and each pair took a group of students to a location of their choosing.

The process seemed to start slow, at least in our group, with some students that were not interested in getting wet or knowing what to do. But soon there were pink and blue rainbow darters, bright orange and green redbreast sunfish, and red and turquoise Cherokee darters. And then, everyone wanted to be in the water, and several grabbed the seine, and soon they were recognizing at least the differences between darters and shiners. And the competition thing worked very well too. Our group wanted more species, so we ended up in a pond on campus where we added Gambusia and a bass, which had not been found in the small stream, to our total… bringing us to something over 20 species before heading back to the biology building to report back in to Dr. Felix. It was a great experience for NANFA to participate in… educating students about the fish that they share their campus with… and walk by every day… and never knew were there… until now.

The students had to head back out to a different part of the campus to look for amphibians and John, Geoff and Noah, had to head back to their respective homes. Alejandro, Doug and I stopped for a quick lunch and then headed out to another location in the Etowah drainage in hopes of getting Doug some Bandfin Shiners. Well the river was ‘high and angry’ and the bandfins were not to be found… but we did see the following…


Southern Brook Lamprey


Bronze Darter


Sculpin… assume that it is a Coosa Banded based on our location


Blackbanded Darter… I really liked the dark markings on the dorsal fin… and he was all tuberculate along his sides… rough as sandpaper…

And the highlight of the day in terms of color… have y’all ever seen gold leaf… well this guy seems to be made out of some sort of sky blue, turquoise, what is that glowing blue in the seine leaf… my photos will not do him justice, but here he is...

The Speckled Darter, so named apparently for the red speckles that cover the sides of the fish… that you cannot really notice because you have already been blinded by the glowing metallic blue.


And look at the cheeks on this guy… like a blue terminator… blue liquid metal.


And I think this is the female, based on the shape of her head and the barely noticeable red speckles along her sides at the junction of each scale.

Well there is more to this story… like a new version of pole dancing (well, really brail dancing… to avoid water over the waders and being swept away by the angry river), a dead car battery, a GPS-lead ride down a dirt road, and a visit with a farmer his tractor and the local constabulary, before finally succeeding in getting a few of the elusive bandfin shiners that Doug has been wanting. But this post is already too long so those details will have to wait for another time.

[Michael Wolfe]

It's nice to hear of Geoff and his Noah along, i thought they had disappeared from fishdom long ago.
I dont think i have ever met John P.
Thanks for the pics, did anyone lay down in the water?
Did you get a whole specie list? Might be good for a future American Currents.
The Bronze is throwing me, the eyes are big and i dont see the familiar blotches on the side. It must be a youngster. Palmaris, The Prize.

Answering some of the above...

• it was great for me to see Geoff again too... I think the last time was in the Okefenokee...
• John is here on the forum as <mywan>... and he is local to north georgia
• No one was face down that day on purpose... it was too cold for me... a waders day, not a snorkel day
• Zach is putting together a species list and a report... I have some notes, but only for my group... will wait for him... agree that my stories and his put together might make a nice article.
• The bronze was plenty big and impressive in person, I think you are thrown by my bad photography more than anything else. He was prety much just like the books show him to be, but the bright light of the sunset had me all screwed up with my pictures...

[Michael Wolfe]

I can't do much but echo Matt and Casper's thoughts, but I will say again I really appreciate you doing this!!! I know that was not lost on the folks at Reinhardt either. They had a lot of fun. And half the fun for you as the interpreter, as you may now realize, is getting them into the stream so that they won't let you have the net back

I did end up a good part of the time being the guy that stood by the photo tank and help them identify what they had seined up... and your right... that can be pretty rewarding when the same group of kids stood on the first bridge we got to and just stared blankly at the water while I jumped in with the seine and had to ask for help...

And Casper is right too... imagine what it would have been like to get em all face down with a mask...??