fish

June 25, 2021 by wpengine

Fish and the Fourth of July?

by Patrick McShea

During the cold early months of 1778, did the outcome of the American colonies’ armed struggle for independence hinge upon a spawning run of fish up a Pennsylvania river? A 22-inch-long American shad displayed on a wall in Discovery Basecamp can serve as a focal point for consideration of this question, but many viewers will be aided by some framing background information.

In the chronology of the American Revolution, the harsh winter of 1777-1778 was notable for the British Army’s control of Philadelphia, and the encampment, some 23 miles northwest, of the opposing Continental Army, led by George Washington, at a site along the Schuylkill River known as Valley Forge.

In the more than two centuries since the United States achieved independence from Great Britain, an often repeated anecdote about the desperate conditions endured by the poorly clothed, poorly fed, and poorly sheltered soldiers at Valley Forge contends that starvation conditions were ended late in the winter by an unusually early spawning run of thousands of American shad up the Schuylkill.

American shad are an anadromous species, a term for fish that hatch in freshwater, migrate to the ocean where they spend most of their lives, and then migrate back to their natal waters to reproduce. The historic range for the species, whose Latin name, Alosa sapidissima, references its delectable flavor, encompasses western Atlantic Ocean waters bordering the east coast of Canada and the United States.

In 2002, renowned author and Princeton University professor John McPhee brought American shad to the attention of the book-reading public with the publication of The Founding Fish, a 358-page encyclopedic compilation of personal experience, firsthand reporting, historical accounts, and scientific research. (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux) The book’s title is a nod to the Valley Forge account, and in a central chapter of the same name McPhee addresses the story’s veracity by citing the research of a now retired professor of American History from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Wayne Bodle. “When I first got in touch with Bodle, in 1998, he said that fresh shad in all likelihood were consumed by soldiers at Valley Forge in the weeks before they broke camp in June, but that the large and providently early run is a legend not supported by a single document.”

Bodle’s analysis of his research into all aspects of the Continental Army’s storied winter encampment in eastern Pennsylvania is presented in his book, The Valley Forge Winter: Civilians and Soldiers in War (The Pennsylvania University Press, 2002). Like The Founding Fish, it’s available for borrowing from Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. If your summer reading schedule isn’t yet set, you might consider checking out either book.

Patrick McShea works in the Education and Visitor Experience department of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

What’s in the Rivers?

We all know that Pittsburgh has three rivers – it’s one of the first things you learn about Pittsburgh! There’s the Allegheny, the Monongahela, and the two rivers meet to form the Ohio River. But have you ever wondered what kinds of creatures might be lurking beneath the three rivers’ surfaces?

A channel catfish sits on the floor of a river.

Three Rivers Thrive

The three rivers are currently home to almost 70 different species of fish! Some of the most common fish found in the rivers are:

-Smallmouth Bass

-Rock Bass

-Muskellunge

-Channel Catfish

-Flathead Catfish

-Freshwater Drums

-Sauger

-Common Carp

You may have heard of a few of these before – bass and catfish are well known fish – but did you know that some of these watery creatures can grow to be more than 3 feet in length? A flathead catfish, for example, can grow to be more than three and a half feet long and can weigh more than 40 pounds! That’s crazy!

Fish Flourish

When the rivers flourish and are filled with fish, they draw predators such as bald eagles and ospreys to the Pittsburgh area. In the 1970s, work began to restore the water quality of the three rivers back to good health. Since then, as the waters have become less polluted, more diverse fish have been found in the rivers and streams of Western Pennsylvania – allowing other aquatic creatures to thrive, like river otters.

A river otter at the Pittsburgh Zoo sits on a log.

Keeping Pittsburgh Clean

We’ve made a lot of progress in cleaning our rivers during the past 50 years. However, there is still quite a lot of work to be done. One way to keep track of the progress we’ve made is by monitoring the water quality of streams and watersheds in the Pittsburgh area. Allegheny College’s Creek Connections is an organization that works with Pittsburgh-area schools to monitor the health of local water sources. For more information on Creek Connections’ work you can visit https://sites.allegheny.edu/creekconnections/.

Students working with Allegheny College’s Creek Connections inspect a crayfish found in a local stream.

You Otter Be Kidding Me

Because of pollution and environmental destruction, the river otter population in Western Pennsylvania was almost extinct in the 1900s. To help, conservationists spent years working on rebuilding habitats and cleaning the rivers before finally reintroducing river otters to the Pittsburgh area in 1982. Since then, river otters have continued to reclaim their habitat along the three rivers.

Explore nature together. Visit Nature 360 for activities and information.

Blog post by Melissa Cagan.

January 17, 2019 by wpengine

Fish Story

by Patrick McShea

Museum educators who helped interpret We Are Nature: Living in the Anthropocene during the ground-breaking exhibition’s ten-month run now pay close attention to explanations of Anthropocene-related themes. When exceptional examples are encountered, we feel compelled to share them.

Recently, in a New York Times article about how a decades-long decline in insect populations is now causing alarm, author Brooke Jarvis addresses the apparent invisibility of environmental degradation that occurs over generations.

She presents the term “shifting baseline syndrome” for the phenomenon, and by way of memorable example summarizes the results of an unusual research study from 2008.

Marine biologist Loren McClenachan, of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, quantified the decline of fish associated with Florida Keys coral reefs by examining historic photos, 1956 – 2007, of the sportfishing customers and catches of three long established charter boat companies.

Although smiles remained consistent across the decades, prize fish got considerably smaller. As Jarvis notes in her summary, “The world never feels fallen, because we grow accustomed to the fall.”

For more details, check out Brooke Jarvis’ full article, The Insect Apocalypse Is Here.

Solnhofen Fossils

These fossils were found in a quarry in Solnhofen, Germany, which was once a series of shallow, tropical lagoons. The environmental conditions at Solnhofen resulted in remarkably preserved fossils of Late Jurassic plants, invertebrates, fish, reptiles, and bird species like these fossils on display in Dinosaurs in Their Time.

October 8, 2016 by wpengine

X-rays at Discovery Basecamp

Visitors can examine all different types of x-rays at Discovery Basecamp, our new permanent, interactive gallery that invites visitors to take part in hands-on learning.

August 26, 2016 by wpengine

Pholidophorus macrocephalus

Pholidophorus macrocephalus is a bony fish that lived about 150 million years ago in the late Jurassic Period of the Mesozoic Era.

Fish and the Fourth of July?

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