Emerald Shiners 2015 | Great Lakes Center | SUNY Buffalo State College

a small silver fish held flat in the palm of a hand

1/46

2015 was the second year of the Emerald Shiner project. An emerald shiner.

Download Image

A person with graying hair and sunglasses stands at the console of a flat-bottomed boat motoring through a river

2/46

Mark Clapsadl driving the electrofishing boat in the Niagara River.

Download Image

Two people stand in the front of a boat wearing life jackets, ear protection, rubber gloves and rubber boots, and holding nets on long poles.

3/46

Graduate student Jo Johnson and Josh Fisher collecting fish on the electrofishing boat.

Download Image

Three men pose for a picture at the front of a boat. The one in the center has his arms around the others with thumbs up, and the one on the right has arms crossed with a confident stance

4/46

The emerald shiner crew: graduate students John Lang, Jake Cochran, and Chris Osborne. They graduated in Spring 2016.

Download Image

A person on a boat holding a large long fish

5/46

Graduate student Chris Osborne holding a bowfin caught on the electrofishing boat. This year we also focused on predators of the emerald shiner to look at their diets.

Download Image

A nighttime picture of a person holding a large long fish

6/46

Graduate student John Lang holding a large muskellunge.

Download Image

A person leans over the side of a boat to put a large fish back in the water

7/46

Graduate student Chris Osborne releasing a muskellunge.

Download Image

A person leans over the side of a boat to release a large dappled fish back into the water

8/46

Graduate student Jake Cochran releasing a muskellunge.

Download Image

A person on a boat holding a large fish with subtle stripes

9/46

Graduate student John Lang with a smallmouth bass.

Download Image

10/46

Josh Fisher holding a bowfin on the electrofishing boat.

Download Image

A person on a boat holding a large long fish. The fish is turned so it is facing the camera

11/46

Josh Fisher holding a bowfin on the electrofishing boat.

Download Image

Two people in chest waders pull a net through hip-high water.

12/46

Graduate students Jake Cochran and Chris Osborne using a seine net to collect fish. This technique is good for catching small or juvenile fish in nearshore areas.

Download Image

Two people wading in the water, pulling a net between them. There are large reeds behind them.

13/46

Graduate students Jo Johnson and Chris Osborne using a seine net to collect fish.

Download Image

A person standing in water holds up a speckled fish on his outstretched palms

14/46

Graduate student Jake Cochran holding a young muskellunge.

Download Image

15/46

Graduate students Chris Osborne and John Lang using a seine net to collect fish.

Download Image

Two people wading in the water, holding a net between them above the water. There are large reeds behind them.

16/46

Graduate students Chris Osborne and John Lang rolling up the seine.

Download Image

A person with short white hair standing at a counter in a lab. There are some small silver fish on a tray in front of him.

17/46

Dr. Randy Snyder sorting fish for genetic testing.

Download Image

Two people sitting at a table in a lab filling small capsule tubes with samples for genetic testing.

18/46

Graduate students John Lang and Jake Cochran sorting genetic samples in the lab.

Download Image

A light-skinned person with a beard sitting at a microscope in a lab.

19/46

Graduate student Steve Fleck examining samples in the lab.

Download Image

microscope image of a portion of a partially digested cladoceran zooplankton with an eyespot, a domed head, and two long fronded antennae.

20/46

Part of a Daphnia from the stomach of an emerald shiner.

Download Image

Microscope image of a round cladoceran zooplankton with a tiny eyepsot, a pointy rostrum, and two fronded antennae.

21/46

A Bosmina from the stomach of an emerald shiner.

Download Image

Two long round nets being towed through the water near the surface.

22/46

Larval fish were collected using bongo nets.

Download Image

Rope going from a block and tackle on a boat, back to a net being towed through the water, just visible below the surface

23/46

Larval fish were collected using bongo nets.

Download Image

Two people working on the back deck of a boat. One person is working near a boom arm extended over the water while a second stands nearby

24/46

Graduate students Chris Osborne and Jo Johnson collecting larval fish with the bongo nets.

Download Image

A person holds a net with two plastic buckets at the bottom, getting ready to put the net into the water.

25/46

Graduate student Chris Osborne prepares to deploy the bongo nets.

Download Image

Two people pull a net in over the side of a boat.

26/46

Josh Fisher and graduate student Chris Osborne pull in the bongo nets.

Download Image

Two people hold nets with plastic buckets on the end on the back deck of a boat.

27/46

Graduate students Chris Osborne and Jo Johnson pull in the bongo nets.

Download Image

One person holds a net with a plastic bucket on the back deck of a boat while a second person crouches down to look through the contents of a net.

28/46

Graduate students Chris Osborne and Jo Johnson collect larval fish.

Download Image

A person in a lab sits in front of a microscope and looks at a monitor with a fish displayed on it.

29/46

Graduate student Jake Cochran identified larval fish.

Download Image

Labeled microscope image of a larval fish. "Family Cyprinidae (Emerald Shiner), Total length = 13.6mm." The scale bar is 2mm.

30/46

A larval emerald shiner.

Download Image

A person tows a net between the docks at an empty marina.

31/46

Graduate student Steve Fleck collected young fish inside marinas. A variety of methods were used to try to catch as many life stages as possible and identify habitats used by emerald shiners.

Download Image

Three people on a small boat with railings labeled "US Army Corps of Engineers."

32/46

Part of our collaboration with the US Army Corps of Engineers was to look at vegetation in various habitats in the Niagara River to match to sonar images of the riverbed.

Download Image

A person stands on the front of a boat holding a large t-shaped pole. They are near a wetland with emergent vegetation.

33/46

Graduate student Steve Fleck studied vegetation at several different habitats. It was collected using a special rake.

Download Image

A person standing on the front of a boat. They are holding a long rod with a T on the end and using it in the water.

34/46

Graduate student Steve Fleck used a special rake to collect submerged vegetation.

Download Image

A person sitting in the front of a boat putting something in a plastic bag. There is a long pole with spikes on one end balanced in their lap.

35/46

Graduate student Steve Fleck used a special rake to collect submerged vegetation.

Download Image

A person sitting in the front of a boat putting something in a plastic bag. There is a pile of weeds next to them, and a long pole is balanced across the boat. There are reeds and lily pads behind them.

36/46

Graduate student Steve Fleck used a special rake to collect submerged vegetation.

Download Image

A person sitting in the front of a boat closing a plastic bag. There is a pole balanced across the boat in front of them, and a plume of mist in the distance behind them.

37/46

Graduate student Steve Fleck used a special rake to collect submerged vegetation. Niagara Falls is in the distance behind him.

Download Image

A plume of mist rises from the water in the distance.

38/46

Niagara Falls is visible from some of our sampling sites.

Download Image

A person at the front of a boat pulls a clear box sampler out of the water.

39/46

Graduate student Steve Fleck also used a Schindler-Patalas trap to sample for plankton.

Download Image

A person sitting on the front of a boat. There are vials arranged next to them and a pile of underwater grasses.

40/46

Graduate student Steve Fleck putting samples in vials.

Download Image

A person standing up talking by a poster in front of several younger people sitting around a table.

41/46

Graduate student Jo Johnson was in charge of outreach for the Emerald Shiner Project. She presented to students from Buffalo Public Schools at the Field Station.

Download Image