St. Clair River Fish-quest! 

We had a new adventure last week when a friend loaned us his Seine net! We were curious to see what could be found in local waterways, but unfortunately the net owner was unable to join us. (Next time, PC!)

The net was 4 feet by 12 feet and required a person on either end to walk through shallow water "pushing" fish as they advanced. It took a few attempts to perfect the technique so fish would be in the net at the same time the shore was reached. 

Samples from the Seine net were placed in the bucket of water and fish were removed one at a time for photos.

Homemade Photo studio: Once a fish was placed in the aquarium, a divider was slid to push the fish to the front of the tank. Three pairs of subdividers locked the long divider piece into place and limited the movement of the fish. Accommodations were made for different sized fish. In total, 8 species of fish were found!

Bluegill

Bluntnose Minnow

Brook Silverside

Emerald Shiner

Green Sunfish

Western Tubenose Goby

Round Goby: With the exception of the gobies, the fish were carefully returned to the river. Goby's are invasive and destructive to river ecosystems. It is illegal to return them to the water. We tried to feed them to a nearby Ring-billed Gull, but that bird wasn't interested. Perhaps he had a preference for French fries?