This Saturday, April 21st, is World Fish Migration Day – a day to celebrate the incredible journeys that fishes undertake each year to spawn and continue their species’ existence. World Fish Migration Day is “a one day global celebration to create awareness on the importance of open rivers and migratory fish.” Hundreds of events are planned all across the globe as we work to help people understand the importance of open rivers to fish survival and the importance of those fish to human health and economies. (Seriously, ALL over the globe – see the map below:)
You can learn more about WFMD from this excellent blog post from National Geographic, where Shedd Aquarium research biologist, Karen Murchie, writes “migratory fishes come in all sorts of sizes, from wee minnows to giant catfish that weigh three times as much as a refrigerator! Regardless of size, many challenges arise during these marathon swims.”
The Center for Limnology is teaming up with the Shedd Aquarium and will be on hand to great thousands of visitors as they migrate to one of Chicago’s most famous institutions. We’ll hand out “fish passports” and get people thinking about fish migrations, especially migratory fishes of the Great Lakes.
Thanks to professor Pete McIntyre’s lab, we do a lot of migratory fish research here at the CFL. Here are a few of our past blog posts to get you caught up on everything you’ll need to know to celebrate World Fish Migration Day! Hope to see you this Saturday!
A Primer on Fish Migrations in Wisconsin – as birds take to the sky and head north, an equally massive migration is taking place just beneath the surface of our inland waters.
Spring Migration is for Suckers (And lots of other species!) – follow a team of students as they work to identify what road crossings and culverts in Great Lakes tributaries mean for migratory fishes.
Migratory Freshwater Fishes are a Crucial Ingredient in Many Countries’ Diets – a post on Aaron Koning’s research in Thailand and how locals are working to conserve the fish that make up an important part of their diet and why national hydropower plans may threaten those species.
Tracking Northern Pike in Green Bay – because there’s something crazy about seeing one our state’s biggest fish wriggling it’s way up a road-side drainage ditch.