Hello NANFA fellow members,

I am new to the forum but have been an enthusiastic member for several years. I live in Eagle River, Alaska, and am currently researching Alaska blackfish for my graduate project at U of Alaska. Blackfish are native to northern and western Alaska but have been introduced to the Anchorage bowl area where I live. These fish are amazing, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to study their life history and trophic ecology (diet). I welcome any questions or comments!

I trap live blackfish out of area lakes, streams, and a small wetlands pond where they are the only fish species present. I use minnow traps (which are only allowed for research purposes under State laws.) I'm dissecting stomach contents to evaluate diet and determine any predation on native salmonids. I'm also trying to artificially spawn them in our 88-gal lab aquarium. We hope to rear larvae to determine developmental anatomy of blackfish, to better categorize them (mudminnow or pike family? blackfish relationships to other fishes are widely disputed, believe it or not.) Your advice for spawning these amazing fish is greatly valued!

I'll post photos soon.

Dona Eidam

Edited by Uland, 19 January 2010 - 02:27 PM.
Topic title change due to split topic

Welcome to the forum!

Well there is a lot of interest in Blackfish, but very little information. I would love to see pictures as I know most here would.

Please feel free to tell us all about these fish since likely none of us have encountered or will encounter one.

Edited by Burbot, 02 January 2010 - 11:54 PM.

What a great topic on a fish with a good amount of interest (at least here in NANFA).
I've split this topic and the remainder of the information can be found in the pikes and mudminnows section of the forum.
http://forum.nanfa.o...aska-blackfish/

I've taken liberty in renaming this topic to prevent redundant topic titles and please feel free to direct me to change the title as you desire.
Thanks for joining the forum and taking the time to post.