In most mammals and birds it is the big, loud, tough or best-feathered male that get the girls. The North American elk is one good example of this traditional selection process. When fall rolls around it’s the mating season and the mountains echo with the bellowing of bulls seeking to attract females. The males will fight each other and the stronger will drive the weaker off until only the strongest are left to take care of the available females.

Darwinian thought sees these actions as a part of the natural selection process – these actions allow only the ˜fittest” genes to make it to the next generation. While the rewards for the genetically privileged that won the mating battles are initially great in some species, they are not long lasting. Age, injury and disease are elements that get the raging bull elk replaced by the next generation of larger stronger animals, which he helped to make. He in essence made his own doom. It’s not this way in all species. Those ˜lesser” males that didn’t make the cut with the females the first time are still around and they get their chance later on.

People just seem to naturally expect the dominant individual to win the breeding race. In some species like quail and Coho salmon the cave-chested, less macho males are the ones that the females prefer. Females learn through experience that the aggressive males can be harmful and dangerous to both them and their progeny. Take the quail for instance. Penned quail were studied for several mating seasons. After the females watched a fight between two males the virgin females preferred the winner but the females with sexual experience picked the loser almost all the time. The “loser” didn’t dominate them; injure them during mating and hung around to help take care of the chicks. Are you listening ladies?

In Coho salmon females are more likely to mate with the males called “jacks” which stop growing early and are smaller than their competition. These smaller males are less likely to run off after other females, injury her during breeding and will not damage the eggs that have already been fertilized.

Scientists who study animal behavior (ethologists) are finding that these secondary mechanisms of mating selection are a great deal more prevalent that was previously believed. These selection mechanisms can be viewed as a type of social Darwinism though this is not really applicable to non-sentient species, but in humans it applies. So, for those of you who are in Mensa, were in the chess, science or drama clubs and the like, take heart! The ladies will start looking at you in a whole new way if they already haven’t.

Think Global – Act Local!

There’re dozens of species of eels in Alabama’s marine and estuarine waters with most of them burrowers in mud bottoms that we rarely, if ever, get to see. The three we most commonly get a look at are the American eel, Blackedged moray and the snake eels.

The American eel is from the freshwater eel family (Anguillidae) because that’s where it spends most of its life. This fish’s breeding pattern is similar to the salmon’s only backwards. The anadromous salmon spends the majority of its life in the ocean, ascending rivers and streams to spawn and die. The American eel is catadromous and does the opposite. It lives almost all its life in freshwater rivers and streams heading out to the area of the Sargasso Sea a few hundred miles east of Bermuda. This eel ranges from Labrador to South America with three footers considered large but they are known to get to four and a half feet. This species is seldom actively fished for in Alabama but can be an incidental catch on trotlines, hand lines or rarely in crab traps and shrimp trawls.

Blackedged morays are found only in the Gulf of Mexico on muddy bottoms and near rubble. It’s found primarily in the western Gulf and grows to one foot or two feet at most. Little is known of its reproductive habits but it’s not catadromous. It seems to like to hunt at night and is frequently caught in shrimp trawls. This eel can deliver a nasty little bite, which commonly gets infected quickly. Folklore says that this fish’s bite is venomous but that’s not true, though a badly infected bite may make it seem like it.

Snake eels of various species are found up and down the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf coast. They have a hard pointed finless tail that they use to burrow into the sand tail first. They range in color from a drab olive grey to individuals having spots, bars and speckles and are usually caught in shrimp trawls as part or the by-catch. Snake eels are usually two to three feet in length but the king snake eel can get much larger. Kings have been measured to eight feet with a diameter as big around as your thigh. They are known for their nasty habit of biting at anything that gets close to them, hence their nickname “Rattle snake of the sea”. It’s doubtful if you’ll ever come up with one on your hook and line tackle but if you do just cut the line. Your fingers will thank you.

Think Global – Act Local!

The spot never gets much more than about ten inches long and lives no more than five years. It gets its name from a dark round spot called an ocellus that looks like an eye just behind the gills. The spot has about 12 to 15 light colored bands that run from the dorsal fin at a right angle almost all the way down to the stomach.

The spot ranges from Cape Cod, down the east coast and around into the Gulf to the Mexican border. It is very common species except at the extreme limits of its range. Spot travel in very large, slow moving schools and prefer muddy and sandy bottoms. Spots are often confused with croakers because their general similarity in appearance. You’ll not catch a spot on hook and line every often like the croaker, though you will every now and then. Spot aren’t bad eating but take longer to clean than larger fish.

Spot migrate, entering bays and estuaries in the spring, where they remain until late summer or fall when they move offshore to spawn. They mature between the ages of two and three at lengths of seven to eight inches with the females producing at least 70,000 – 90,000 eggs. Their maximum life span is about five years, though fish over three years of age are uncommon. Spawning occurs in offshore waters from late fall to early spring. After spawning, adults may remain offshore. The larvae will enter inshore waters in December or January, washed in on the incoming tide. Nursery areas for juvenile spot are in low salinity areas of bays and tidal creeks, but they’re also found in sea grass beds. Young spot grow rapidly over the summer and by fall will reach an average length of around five inches.

Spot lives on the bottom feeding on invertebrates, small fish and in their first months of life on bottom detritus. They primarily stay in near shore and marshy areas but like muddy areas. As a result of this it’s frequently caught in shrimp trawls as by-catch.

Because spot bunch up in large schools it has been and is sought after by seine fishermen for pet food processors. By decades, for the period from 1950 to 2000 respectively, 6.68, 3.41, 2.52, 2.16 and 2.47 million of pounds of spot were landed by the commercial fishing industry. This general decline in the landings of spot has been attributed to over fishing by the commercial industry.

Think Global – Act Local!

Fire ants don’t produce formic acid like most other ants. They inject alkaloid venom from a gland at the base of their tail with a stinger. Additionally, a chemical is released when the first one stings that signals other ants to attack. When they’re in the winged phase of their life cycle millions of fire ants will swarm and fly around looking for a place to start a new colony.

In still coastal backwater streams and bayous of Alabama’s coast a seldom seen and little thought about event takes place near the end of winter or the beginning of spring.
As fate would have it, many fire ants in their winged phase land on the water. The spotted sea trout, croaker and other fish see this event as their own personal all-you-can-eat special. These fish will eat fire ants until they can’t hold any more.

The toxin contained in the fire ants will end up killing some of the fish. Most of the fish that feed on fire ants will only become sick and recover without permanent damage. Fire ant related fish kills aren’t a serious problem along the Gulf Coast.

Other than fire ants’ direct effect on fish there is a noisy insect called the cicada that has an effect that’s not so obvious.

The cicada lives by sucking the sap from plants. Some of its close relatives are the leaf and treehoppers. Most cicadas live two to eight years with adults around every year. These are called annual cicadas.

The ones we hear about the most are the periodic cicadas. These populations of cicadas appear at the same time every 13 or 17 years. When many millions of these cicadas make their appearance at the same time the noise they make keeps people awake at night. One thing they do we don’t see is that they help to indirectly increase the fish population.

With so many insects appearing for a short period of time when they die their decaying bodies provide fertilizer. Rainfall washes it into streams that fill out estuaries and bayous. This increases the production of phytoplankton with their biomass getting passed up the food chain. Studies have shown that some fish populations can increase by as much as ten percent because of this event.

Think Global – Act Local!

This fish occurs mostly inshore around rock jetties, pilings, and piers and in tidal creeks. The sheepshead prefers brackish waters as opposed to straight seawater but you’ll find them off Alabama’s State pier in large numbers during the early spring. This fish moves offshore in late winter and early spring for spawning, which sometimes happens near artificial reefs and navigation buoys. The juveniles live in seagrass flats and over mud bottoms.

The sheepshead has an oval-shaped, deep body with a blunt snout and small mouth. The dorsal and anal fins have strong, short spines with long pectoral fins extending past the base of the anal fin when pressed close to the body. The tail fin has a shallow fork.

The adults are silver to greenish yellow with a dark back. There are five to six dark vertical bars on each side, which are very obvious in juveniles. The tail and pectoral fins are greenish with the dorsal, anal, and ventral fins colored dusky or black.

You may have thought that only sharks had wicked teeth but you’d be well advised not to put your fingers into the mouth of a sheepshead. Teeth of the sheepshead include most of what we’ve come expect in mammals not fish, like incisors, molars, and grinders. At the front of the jaw are incisor-like teeth that tend to jut out. The molars are arranged in three rows in the upper jaw and two rows in the lower jaw. These heavy and strong teeth are used for crushing and grinding the shells of animals that are their prey.

Although the record in the Gulf of Mexico is 21.4 pounds, adult sheepshead commonly run about one to eight pounds and 14 to 18 inches. The maximum known lifespan of the sheepshead is at least 20 years maturing on the average at 2 years.

Sheepsheads are omnivorous and like teenagers will eat just about anything they can put in their mouths around. They feed on invertebrates, small fish and occasionally plant material. Adults prey on blue crabs, oysters, clams, crustaceans and small fish including young Atlantic croakers. Sheepsheads use their teeth to crush the shells of blue and hermit crabs and scrape barnacles off rocks and pilings. Juveniles feed on zooplankton, polychaetes and chironomid larvae.

Sheepsheads spawn primarily in the early spring, though larvae have been found from January through May. Adults migrate offshore to spawn and then return to nearshore waters and estuaries. Spawning frequency ranges from once a day to once every 20 days. Females may produce from 1,100 to 250,000 eggs per spawn. The young are most abundant in seagrass beds and mud bottoms where they feed on copepods and algae. When they reach a length of 50mm juveniles leave the grass beds and mingle with the adults around jetties, piers and pilings.

This fish is highly valued due to its white flesh and mild flavor. Its heavy scales and strong spines make it a chore to fillet. It’s marketed both fresh and frozen and is cooked by broiling, microwaving and baking. Commercially, the majority of sheepshead is take as by-catch by shrimp trawlers and tossed back. They can also be caught by longlines, seines and trammel nets. Commercial catches of sheepshead have historically been the largest off the coast of Florida, Texas, and Louisiana.

Think Global – Act Local!

Reef fish have a closed swim bladder and it expands rapidly (about 25% for each 30 feet of depth) and so fish brought up quickly from deep water will not be able to equalize their bladder. If these fish are released they will be unable to descend until the bladder has been able to vent the excess gas, through the blood and gills, into the water. During this time the fish is venerable to predation.

In order to allow fish a better chance for survival it’s possible to puncture the air bladder, which allows the excess gas to escape. Small fish can be released when pulled up from 30 to 40 feet of water without puncturing the air bladder and with no ill effects. Often, when pulled up from depths greater than 30 feet the result is most often an excessively inflated air bladder. This may result in a swollen abdomen or the air bladder forcing the gut lining to protrude out of the mouth.

Piercing the gut lining sticking out of a fish’s mouth will not deflate the bladder. It will cause a tear in the gut wall and allow water to get into the body cavity of the fish. This would most likely result in the death of the fish.

Bladder deflation by the angler can be done with a sharpened basketball inflator probe or a large gauge hypodermic needle. These are much better than a wire or knife as they are easy to obtain and allow the angler to hear the hiss of escaping air when venting is done correctly.

In red snapper the needle should enter at a 45-degree angle and penetrate at a point two thirds of the way back along the pectoral fin. Hissing of escaping air will tell you that you have done it right. Do not enter too high up on the body or you’ll hit the kidney. If you can, keep the fish in a bait tank for a bit until it balances in the water. The small hole made by your tool should readily heal.

Fish swim bladders in the past were used to make a transparent, colorless, water-soluble fish glue called Isinglass. Isinglass was originally made from the air bladders of the Russian beluga sturgeon (Acipenser huso) found in the fresh waters of the Caspian and Black Seas. After restrictions were placed on Russian exports in 1939, other fish air bladders were used and isinglass became a generic term for glue derived from the swim bladder of fish, e.g., North American isinglass is made from hake or cod. To prepare isinglass, the air bladders are removed from the fish, cleaned and air-dried. The dried bladder is then cut into thin translucent strips.

These strips, which are nearly 80% collagen, are dissolved in hot water then diluted and cooled into flat disks. This very strong, water-soluble adhesive can be used in low concentrations. Isinglass is brittle at a relative humidity below 50% and is degraded by UV light. Other uses for isinglass are as a clarifying agent in the beer and wine production, handmade paper, inks and special paints and anywhere gelatin is used (jelly).

Think Global – Act Local!

Since it was first detected the borer has spread to 15 states and two Canadian provinces. Quarantines on the transport of ash trees and their products have been imposed by the USDA to help prevented the beetles spread.

Robert Haack of the United States Forest Service feels that “It look like this is going to be another Dutch elm disease.” In the 1930’s the U.S. lost half its elm trees to that disease. In the streets many towns the northern ash replaced the lost elms. The ash, being a hardy species and nearly disease free, was though to be a good choice. Now with the spread of the ash borer many streets in southern Michigan towns have no trees at all.

From May until late July, adult ash borer beetles fly up to three miles between trees and the females lay eggs in the bark crevices. The larvae feed under the bark in late summer and fall, creating tunnels that block water and food flow from the roots. There’re no obvious outward signs of infestation until the tree starts to die and by then it is too late to do anything.

The borer is being closely watched by the ash tree industry. As every little leaguer can tell you wooden baseball bats are made out of northern white ash. Seven out of ten Louisville Slugger bats used in the major leagues come from white ash. In one year over one million wooden bats are produced.

While the ash borer is a serious concern, something else is at work underground that has the potential to change many ecosystems in North America. Exotic species of earthworms from Europe and Asia are consuming the leaf litter on forest floors that is vital to keeping our northern forests alive. This activity allows the spread of invasive plant species and changes the food chain for many forest animals. These worms have been arriving on our shores for as long as ships have been sailing here.

They probably first arrived here in soil that was used as ballast in ships and no one noticed. When these new worms devour the leaf litter they change the low-nutrient, high-acid soils that the northern forests need to prevent weeds and other invasive species from getting a foothold, into aerated and nutrient rich loam. This is a good environment for your home garden but bad for the forest.

These worms are spread in the root balls of transplanted trees, by fishermen and have been found along logging and hiking trails. There’s no known way to get rid of these new worms once they have become established. It’s hoped, that like the plant pest Kudzoo, an underground equilibrium will evolve and the forest will continue, as we know it today.

Think Global – Act Local!

There were three cod wars in the nineteen fifties sixties and seventies between Iceland and Great Britain. British vessels were fishing in traditional Icelandic fishing grounds or what they considered their exclusive economic zone. Iceland used its warships to escort the English vessels elsewhere and Britain responded by escorting its fishing fleet with her warships into their waters. There was a similar “war” fought over Atlantic cod in the late 1980’s between Iceland and Canada over the right to fish for the dwindling cod stocks on the Grand Banks.

In Northern California Native Americans traded shots with white gill-netters over the right to fish for salmon on the Klamath and Eel rivers in the late 1970’s.
Native Americans were accused by white fishermen of stringing gillnets completely across the upper sections of the Klamath and Eel rivers where they flowed through tribal lands. If true, this would have affected both commercial and recreational salmon fishing in the lower river sections for years to come. Living and working in those areas at that time I can tell that when you hear a shot whiz over your head you realize that somebody’s taking fishing regulation to the next level.

In Africa a trawl fishery was developed on some of the rift valley lakes in east Africa in the 1970’s. An entire economy sprang up around that fishery; boat building, net making, housing, stores and a host of support facilities. A population of over 500,000 people made a living from that fishery in one way or another. Unfortunately for them that fishery wasn’t managed very well. In fact, except for a few Peace Corp volunteers telling them to slow down the rate of fishing, they were not managed at all. The fishery collapsed. These people lost their way of life, their primary food source and the lake economy failed. The people were left with two choices – either move or starve. Estimates were that 300,000 people died either of starvation or were killed in the local wars by tribes whose lands they moved through. The natives of those lands saw them only as a people who would take what little food they had plus, after all, they were from a different tribe.

In Maine during 1688 and 1689 a war was waged between the Abenaki Indians and English settlers over fishing rights and land ownership. The English placed nets across the mouth of the Saco River blocking fish migration and threatened a major food source of the Abenaki. In coordination with allies from various tribes both the Abenaki and the English raided each other’s towns and villages for two years until an agreement was reached. Hundreds of these “Fish Wars” have taken place all over the world throughout recorded history. If you would like to read more about “Fish wars” just type in “Cod Fish War” into your browser and you will have a good starting point.

Think Global -Act Local!