Just came back from helping 5000 trout get into their new homes. As a member of the Sackville Rivers Association, I get to do fun stuff like that. The truck met us and off we went to 4 different lakes and the Sackville River. 5 stops altogether. The truck driver would scoop out a net of fish, then we'd pass it like a bucket brigade to get the squirming mass to its new home. Really cool.
A couple of the spots we went to were a little warmer than I expected and the fish are sometimes a little stunned when they're released so we'd scoop one or two up and force them through the water to get the water forced over their gills and that would wake 'em up a little bit. And since they'd been raised in a hatchery, they seemed to have little fear of people. As they acclimatize they act more and more like regular fish and scoot away.
At the last stop I was the first one in the water's edge and so startled a whole slew of tadpoles.....soon to be trout supper....life goes on.
On the home front, still no maternity wing in the aquarium. When the happy day arrives I can see me passing out cigars:"Here, have a cigar, it's a girl. And a boy, and another boy, and another girl....."
S.
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2 comments:
OK, I'm just derned curious...how DO you tell the sex of a...ah...fish?!? Inquiring minds want to know...
Linda D. in Seattle
It depends on the fish and how close you can get to it....
The guppies have a size difference, the female being larger, the male more colourful. Feeder guppies aren't too colourful at all though, so you have to go by size. There is an anatomic difference that is kind of hard to see, too, involving the male sex organ (please no jokes, I've thought of 'em all). The biggest difference is that the females, when pregnant have a big black spot on their abdomen that gets bigger and darker as the pregnancy continues. One thing I did learn is that the female stores the sperm inside her and can continue to have babies every month for several months on one mating alone.
Most fish lay eggs and the male swims over them to fertilize them. Guppies are one of the few fish that actually have sex to reproduce and don't lay eggs.
Many sharks also have sex to reproduce.
And now you know....lol.
S.
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