Week 5: Fish, Fishes, and More Fish

Monday: We had lovely weather for our beam trawls out in the Yaquina Bay estuary. We went in three groups out on the R/V Elakha, which we learned means otter. We had a guest scientists, Dr. Lorenzo Cannelli, teach us to use beam trawls and deploy CTDs to take salinity, temperature, oxygen, and depth measurements. Our trawls were focused on catching, measuring, and counting juvenile English sole (Parophrys vetulus). We also found some gunnels, a showy snailfish, and tons of shrimp and juvenile crabs! We sampled upstream and downstream in the bay to see if there was a difference in density, mean size, and size range. The final cruise found the largest English sole of the day at 15.6 cm. After returning from the trawls and a lunch break we went to class and had a lecture on early life history and recruitment of fishes. Then we did our data analysis on the trawl data we gathered that morning.  

Kendal deploying the CTD with Dr. Lorenzo Ciannelli's guidance. 

Students measuring and counting English sole.

Tuesday: We spent the morning in lectures on age and growth; swimming, schooling and migration; and scientific writing to begin preparing for the trawl reports. After lunch, we got a chance to go out into the field again before the long night of writing ahead. We went to Tokatee Klootchman State Park and hunted fish among the tidepool. At the end of our hour of searching and catching fish, we held the award for the biggest, smallest, most unique, most colorful, and best Cabezon caught. We also had one of the highest catches from the tidepools in BI 450 history. Good Job Everyone! After returning from the field, when we were identifying the fish, we found that we had caught a ringtail snailfish (Liparis rutteri). What is interesting about finding the ringtail in Tokatee Klootchman was that in our guide books, they said that the most southern places it has been reported was southern Alaska. Which is cool for us, seeing it so far south in Oregon, meaning that they may be possible migrating down to more southern waters, and we may be seeing more of them. Another cool find was a silver Cabazon (Scorpaenichthys marmoratus), the silver color is due to the Cabazon just migrating from the open ocean to tidepools. It was a late night (and early morning for some) writing to prepare our trawl reports for peer revision Wednesday.

Searching for tidepool fish at Tokatee Klootchman State Park.

A collection of sculpins we found at Tokatee.

Wednesday: We began the day with lecture on the different way fish feed and food webs in the ocean. Then we had a break for donuts and coffee in the staff lounge. After that, we got a temporary break from fish and had a guest lecture about plankton ecology from Dr. Moritz Schmid. We learned about various tehnologies for collecting zooplankton; including the coupled multiple opening/closing net and environmental sensing system (MOCNESS) that Su helped design and how artificial intelligence is being used to conduct image analysis to obtain higher resolutions for plankton counts. After a break for lunch, we brought our trawl reports in and peer reviewed each others papers, providing edits and feedback to improve our final papers. We ended the day by learning how to prepare and deploy light traps out to catch zooplankton, which we deployed off the pumphouse docks in Yaquina Bay. Finally, we went home and made final adjustments and edits to our trawl reports based on our peers’ feedback and prepared for a busy Thursday.

Students after deploying the light traps. Students after retrieving the light traps.

Thursday: We retrieved our light traps first thing in the morning to see what caught. Before we got to identify the zooplankton and juvenile fish from the traps we had to turn in the trawl reports and we had our final lecture for the term! We learned about population ecology and fish conservation, a precursor to our Marine Policy section in a few weeks. Then we got to identify and enumerate the juvenile fishes and zooplankton our light traps caught. We learned to use a sieve to separate and count the large organisms(over 3.3 mm) and a stempel pipette to take 5 mL subsamples to count the small organisms(under 3.3 mm). After lunch, we split into groups and got to print fish with the help of guest artist Bruce Koike. It was a nice break and a creative outlet. With the trawl report turned in and the last lecture over, our attention turned to studying for Friday’s final and the end of the section.

The class showing off our fish prints!

Friday: Another week, another final. After a busy week full of fishes, papers, and field work we spent the morning studying and finishing notebooks to prepare for the end of the fishes section. In the afternoon we took our final, cleaned the lab, released our fishes back into the estuary and turned in our field and lab notebooks. We then headed for a relaxing weekend in between our next course, Community Ecology starting Monday.

SOMETHING'S FISHY...

After a brief break in both classes and coursework, a new week brings a new professor, a new TA, and a new subject: FISH!

Group photo from day one at Tokatee Klootchman

Monday:

We dipped our toes into the new subject right away, spending the morning sloshing through the tide pools at Tokatee Klootchman in search of intertidal fish. In our rainiest field trip yet, we scooped up sculpin and gathered gunnels, bringing the best specimens back to the lab. After a brief lecture on general anatomy, we tried our best to apply what we learned, attempting to identify a number of fish specimens.

Tuesday:

Paige and Nick wading through the water to do a beach seine.

Everybody loves a beach day! We spent the afternoon at an estuary beach, while a select few braved the water to drag seine nets and capture fish. We sorted, counted, measured, and identified a number of species, including pipefish, flatfish, and juvenile salmon. Our biggest catch of the week, with a TL of approximately 22cm, was Leptocottus armatus, the Pacific Staghorn Sculpin. This little excursion was followed by lecture on reproduction and life history, allowing us to better understand the journey of the young fish we had just caught.

Wednesday:

As everyone was beginning to tire, we fought the mid-week blues with break in the morning for coffee and donuts. This was followed by a guest lecture from Dr. Bob Cowen about kelp forests and rocky reef habitats. We managed to experience a number of other habitats while escaping the stormy weather with an afternoon adventure to the AQUARIUM. Naturally, everyone gravitated to the open ocean exhibit, where sharks and rays take center stage.

Enclosed in the Aquarium’s longest tunnel, the class relaxed into a state of admiration and awe at the wonders of the deep. Sketching and photography ensued, along with identification of species and discussion of anatomical differences. The “Open Sea” exhibit houses 5 species of shark, schools of mackerel and anchovies, and bat rays. The largest shark species on display was the Broadnose Sevengill shark, Notorhynchus cepedianus. This shark is common along the Oregon Coast and can be identified by its unusual number of seven gills. Because of their gill number, they are thought to be related to ancient sharks, as fossils from the Jurassic period also boast seven gills. This oddity gives them the Guinness Book of World Records title for most gills!

Thursday:

Elakha cruise group two posing as their favorite fish: the English sole!

Thursday was the most highly anticipated day of the week: we got to spend the morning out on the Elakha, beam trawling and sorting fish for our research project. The early morning crew fought rain and sleepy eyes, but managed to have a blast. The afternoon crew was a bit luckier with the weather, and had just as much fun measuring and identifying fish. After a much needed lunch break, the afternoon took a slower pace, with a lecture on swimming and schooling followed by analysis of the trawl data. A small group of students then assisted Su and Miram in deploying light traps off the Pump House dock.

Friday:

The final day of the week was all about the class room! We had the pleasure of two guest lectures, from Dr. Wayne Hoffman and Dr. Christian Breseño-Avena, about herring and plankton, respectively. Our lecture on plankton was immediately followed by a plankton identification lab. We used microscopes to identify species and count plankton, determining that in one light trap we had collected over 125,000 planktonic organisms!

This week was packed full of lectures, field adventures, and fish! The week went swimmingly, but there is still a lot more schooling to do before we finish up the section on fishes.

FISH!

FISH! Well week three is here and gone now and we learned more then we ever wanted to know about FISH!, including how to fillet, fry, and eat them. We started off the week with some great lectures and some disappointing news about not having the proper vertebrate permits in order to collect FISH! Local Ocean, a local seafood shop and cafe graciously donated some blue and black rock fish (Sebastes mystinus and S. melanops) and English sole (Parophrys vetulus) for us to dissect. We learned how to remove the otoliths from just below the brain and saved them for a later lab. That night Itchung Cheung brought us a wonderful spread of pizza, soda, salad and ice cream sandwiches for desert! We got to meet the director of HMSC, George Boehlert, who reveled us with tales of his travels.

Tuesday we did some catch and release beach seining right out front of the visitors center. We caught a few juvenile English sole, various sculpin (Family: Cottidae), Eulachon (Thalichthys pacificus), pipefish (Syngnathus leptorhynchus), Juvenile Chum Salmon (Oncorhynchus keta). In the afternoon we examined the otoliths we had removed Monday.


Wednesday a brave few ventured down to Seal Rock to return the inverts from the previous week and collect rare delicious scones. After that the day was sprinkled with interesting lectures about FISH! habitat and ontogenetic shifts. That evening a different set of brave few ventured out to Boiler Bay to examine tide pool FISH! on their own, they were mostly disappointed in their find of nothing but various sculpin, but they did find a cool cave...

Thursday morning we had a very interesting lecture on Dr. Heppel's research on the Nassau Grouper (Epinephelus striatus). His research involved some interesting stuff on their aggregation spawning. They used satellite tags to track currents from the aggregation spot to figure out what happens to the eggs and larvae after fertilization. It turns out the FISH! know exactly which day to spawn after the full moon so that the planktonic larvae head south in a curly cue pattern and then loop back around to return to Little Cayman Island. That afternoon we visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium and took a look at numerous FISH!. Our assignment was to find our randomly assigned FISH! by picture alone and write down a few things about it in our notebook.

Friday was the day we were all waiting for! Behold the Elakha, Oregon State University's 54 foot coastal research vessel. We were randomly assigned (like a good lab experiment should be) to two groups. We did a single bottom trawl and only brought up a few FISH! and numerous shrimp. We caught and released a few Shiner Perch (Cymatogaster aggregata), and a couple of American Shad (Alosa sapidissima).


(Group 1 returning on left, and group 2 waiting on the dock below. Both pictures were taken at the exact same time almost causing a rift in the space time continuum.)



That evening our gracious instructor, Dr. Scott Heppel, gave us 4 Black Rockfish he had caught and we fried them up along with some other great food.