As a fisheries and aquatic ecologist, I study fishes and freshwater mussels in their natural habitats to learn about their life cycles, needs for survival, roles in the ecosystem, and how we can conserve them.
Important characteristics for my career include the ability to identify fishes, think critically, and understand statistical techniques for analyzing data. All of these characteristics are essential to producing good, solid science.
How do fishes use woody materials, like logs, branches, and leaf piles, as cover in small sand-bottomed streams?
I use a backpack electrofisher to sample fishes. The backpack electrofisher sends electrical current into the water via metal probes; the current attracts fishes to the probe where they are stunned and can be netted for further study. After studying the fishes, we return them to the water.
Freshwater mussels are shellfish. Some freshwater mussel species use lures to attract specific kinds of fishes that serve as hosts for the mussel’s larvae, the early stage of the mussel. Two of these mussel species use the same fish as a resource, but one mussel displays lures at night and the other displays during the day.
In college, I studied pre-medicine, called “pre-med,” which prepared me to become a medical doctor. I happened to take an ichthyology (the study of fish) class as a break from the pre-med classes, and the class changed my life.
