Sturgeon pre-release measurements by Charlotte V.

On October 7, we took a trip to TNACI with the intention of observing trout spawning. When we arrived, the head of the program told us that the spawning could not take place due to the maturation of the fish. So after we put all the trout back into their tank, one person netted ten sturgeon from each tank, while another would measure each one in millimeters, someone else would measure the fish in grams, and the last person would record all of the data. There are six sturgeon tanks, and the fish are separated into each tank by size. In some tanks there was an average of 200 millimeter fish, while in others there was an average of 90 millimeters. The bigger fish tended to weigh around 20-30 grams, and the smaller fish leaned more towards the 8-12 gram range. The TNACI employees informed us that the smaller fish, because they are the same age as the bigger sturgeon, will also be released tomorrow, even though they might have a lower survival rate.

While we were gathering data about each sturgeon, Shawna Mitchell (Science coordinator @TNACI) taught us about the anatomy of the sturgeon. The sturgeon is a pretty weird looking bottom feeder, native to the Tennessee River. A sturgeon’s mouth lends itself to being a bottom feeder by being on the underside of its body, and being flat, so that it can swim along the river’s bottom picking up different things to eat such as mollusks and other crustaceans.

Another body part that’s important to a sturgeon’s survival is its barbels. The barbels are the things that hang down from its nose that move through the river silt detecting food for the sturgeon to eat. One cool adaptation that the sturgeon has is its ‘glowing’ eyes. They are small and are perched on top of the sturgeon’s head. Because sturgeon live at the bottom of the river where it’s dark, they have to be able to absorb all the light that they can and be able to reflect it so they can see. Their eyes do this for them and enable them to see predators, as well as food that might be swimming around.  

Water quality at TNACI - by Larkin B.

Today we went back to TNACI and learned how to test the sturgeon tank water to see if there is any chlorine in it. This type of testing is not normally used when testing in the field, because there is typically not any chlorine in the rivers. Tap water is used in the tanks at TNACI, so the water must be checked and treated. 

 There are 4 tanks we tested, each one is tested to make sure certain chemicals are not building up and creating a toxic environment the fish could not live in. To do this we learned how to test the pH, nitrate, and ammonia levels. 

If the water below pH of 6 or above 8.5 the water in the tank must be changed, because it is a harmful environment for the fish. 

The ammonia in the tank should be as close to zero as possible and this varies with temperature and pH. These parameters were tested using an spectophototometer and ionized water was used as the control. 

On our way out, the TNACI interns explained to us how the invasive mosquito fish is being measured as part of a study of its impacts on the barrens topminnow.    

Sturgeon Re-introduction program at TNACI by Claire C.

Tasty bloodworm lunch

Today, we took a trip to the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute (TNACI) propagation facility to observe how they breed and care for the sturgeon. Sturgeon are a type of bony fish indigenous to the Tennessee River, but have been overfished for caviar and blocked from their natural breeding grounds by dams or other industrial works. This caused the population to decrease significantly. TNACI, as well as many others, have noticed this problem and are attempting to resolve it by spawning the sturgeon in captivity, which can increase the survival rate of the developing fries.

To do this, they pump in city water rather than using a flow-through system and de-chlorinate it before filling the tanks. There are about 5-6 tanks, which separate the sturgeon based on size. The reason behind this is to ensure that the bigger and smarter fish will not deprive the smaller ones of food. Typically, the smaller ones would never make it in the wild due to their size and intelligence.

For a balanced diet, the young sturgeon are fed a healthy dose of bloodworms. They're benthic feeders, meaning that they eat their food off the bottom of the tank, which can potentially increase the growth of bacteria. We got rid of this by thoroughly scrubbing the inside of the tank, but not without accidentally hitting a few fish!

 

Scrubbing the tank 

            If the population levels are brought back up to their historic levels, then it would positively affect the environment and economy because the sturgeon could help balance out the river's ecosystem and again be fished as a food source.

Freshman River fellows summer recap. part II:

The second part of the freshman fellows’ summer experience included a lot of fish, some paddle boarding, and an interesting tour of the wastewater treatment plant.

Thursday we caught a wide variety of fish in South Chickamauga Creek as we learned to use Seine nets. 

We started to get the hang of identifying some fish with the help of aquatic conservation biologists Dr. Anna George and Dr. Bernie Kahajda from the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Instititue (TNACI). 

Because this day was a favorite last summer, two sophomore fellows joined us and were excited to finally catch the elusive snail darter (Percina tanasi) from which TNACI partially takes its name. We were able to see how fin clips are taken for conservation genetics. This year, we also caught several gar including one with a lamprey attached. 

We were excited to learn cool fish and frog facts from a GPS alum and former camp counselor to many of the fellows, Louise McCallie.

Friday we toured the wastewater treatment plant with Matthew Snyder. We started with a fun classroom lesson from the stormwater department of Chattanooga and got to learn about the process of wastewater treatment. 

 We spent the afternoon relaxing, playing and paddling a bit on stand up paddleboards (SUP) in Waconda Bay.

 Saturday we met in the morning to talk about the week and compare notes.

Freshman summer experience recap part I:

This summer, new freshman river fellows from GPS joined two river fellows from CGLA for a week of experiences focused on the Tennessee River. You can read some of the highlights of the first part of the week below:

 From Lauren K: On Monday, June 15, we had one of the most memorable days of our lives. We started in the morning by meeting at GPS and introducing ourselves to everyone. We played a few games to learn what each of us liked and talked for a while before loading up in the bus and driving to the put in for our kayak trip. There we met our kayak instructors and guides, Terri and Sunshine. After eating some lunch and learning the basics of kayaking, we crossed the river for a quick history lesson from Patrice Glass, and then continued downstream. 

Along the way we went buoy wrestling, rope swinging, and we found some great rocks to jump off. As we went down the river, we also found various fruits and vegetables floating in the water such as: A watermelon, oranges, and some squash. With these findings, we created our “tribe name”, The Sasquashes. 

While waiting for our tasty lasagna, Rick Huffines from the Tennessee River Gorge Trust talked to us about what their organization works on and about the need for diversity in conservation work. After dinner, Danni and I noticed that we, as every other pale person on the trip, got very sunburnt, and spent the rest of our night in a lot of pain. The day was amazing. It introduced us to new people and we had so much fun. It made the pain feel worth it in the end.

From Charlotte V:  On Tuesday we woke up to Terri screaming "cacaw" and the smell of breakfast burritos permeating the house. Before we loaded our kayaks into the water, we noticed a deer making its way across the river. Then we put our kayaks into the warm water and struggled to get a picture of all of us lined up in the water. 

 After that we set sail and begun the second leg of our voyage to Raccoon Mountain. About halfway through we spotted an osprey nest and decided to check it out. As we got closer the mom became really grouchy so we left. 

credit: ospreywatch.org

 Towards the end of our paddle, we saw a barge coming up river and stopped to wait until it passed by. A few minutes later we completed our two-day kayaking trip and loaded the kayaks onto the trailer. Once back at GPS, we watched a documentary about dams called Dam Nation. We were all pretty exhausted from a very tiring, yet rewarding two days and were ready to get home a take a good nap.

On Wednesday we toured Raccoon Mountain pump storage facility and the Chickamauga Dam.  It was amazing and a little scary to be under the mountain and under the storage lake as we learned how this plant comes online quickly to generate power at times of high use. 

It was interesting that the power plant uses more energy than it generates but that energy is provided to users when they need it and is cheaper to use this local electricity than buying electricity from another area.

The Chickamauga dam is growing! We learned about concrete growth and how this affects how the dam has to be maintained. We were also able to see the locks, spillways, and huge repair tools up close. 

It was interesting how few people are needed on site compared to the hustle and bustle of the pump storage plant. The dam is operated almost entirely off-site from an office downtown. We also got to meet Annette Moore who is in charge of the Ocoee hydro stations. She was nice enough to take time out of her day to drive in before heading to a Rolling Stones concert. She talked to us about females in engineering and encouraged us to contact her if we would like more information or would like to consult her for a science project in the future.