That was actually the title to an email I sent out to the coo-op parents, but I liked it so much, I decided to use it here, too.
We took a field trip! Yea! We went to the Florida Bass Conservation Center. Hubby found it while searching for some things for a project he's working on and wanted to take the family. Instead, we waited until biology was studying fish and used it as a field trip opportunity. I thought it was one of the better field trips we've taken in a while. Here's some of the things we learned. And pics! You know I got a couple of those.
This particular center is state run and is part of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. Florida is the fishing capital of the world and generates $1.4 billion annually for the state. That is third behind tourism (duh!) and citrus (again, duh!). The FWC is broken down into 3 parts: fish management, wildlife management, and law enforcement. The FBCC is a fish hatchery. They supply fish to some of the biggest of the 7,000 lakes in our state. This facility was built in 1965 and originally used ponds. As technology has progressed, they now use concrete raceways and have more than tripled the amount of fish they can hatch and raise and release.
Some fun facts we learned:
- There are 2 types of largemouth bass. There is the Northern Largemouth, which live in most of the United States. And then there is the Florida Largemouth bass, which only lives from Gainesville and south. Florida Largemouth is what this center focuses on.
- The catfish is the only fish in North America that has skin.
- Spawning depends on light and water temp. Without the right light and water temp, no new eggs are happening.
- The eggs of a largemouth bass take 1-1 1/2 days to hatch. Trout eggs take up to 40 days!
So how do they do what they do? Well, here's where the pictures come in handy.
The 2 pics above are of the male bass. They find their territory, in this case the black mats, and they sit there until the females come along. Then they start courting the females.
These lovely ladies swim by and try to attract the attention of the males. (Fun fact, females are the larger of the 2. If you catch a bass over 4-5 pounds, it will be a female. The boys get the pretty colors and the girls get the weight. That seems backwards.) Once the eggs are spawned and fertilized, the female goes along her merry way and the male hangs out and protects the eggs.
It's a hatchery. Of course, they aren't going to just let the eggs sit. Other fish would eat them, then when they hatch, they are vulnerable to being eaten. It is a fish eat fish world out there. The mats are collected and set into a different raceway and protected until they hatch.
This is not the best picture in the world, but follow along. See the little golden spots? Those are the egg remains. The little dark spots are the fish that have hatched. They are itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiny and are living on the yolk from the egg that they were hatched from.
When they get to a certain size, they are moved into yet another raceway. These are the bass that are growing up and getting to release size. They don't release full size bass because that would clog up the lakes with big fish. Start small and let them do their fish thing.
The fish that they use are wild caught. They are tested to make sure that the are Florida Largemouth and then they go in the raceways. Since these aren't store bought fish and they want to ensure that they stay healthy, the FBCC provides fish for the bass to eat. That would be the above pic. They hatch goldfish and koi. A lot of them. This pic does no justice to the amount of goldfish and koi.
And because the eggs of the goldfish and koi have to come from somewhere, here are the moms and dads. These are beautiful, beautiful fish.
This is at the entrance to the FBCC. I just liked the way it looked.
This is our group of kids, minus a few. There were some that couldn't make it, one that was sick, and a couple that were running a little late.
This big guy was in a huge aquarium that they have in the visitors center. Just a quick note about the visitors center. They have pamphlets and handouts and activity books and bookmarks and stickers and bumper stickers and posters and cute little plastic bags to put it all in because it is all free. If you know anything about kids and frugal homeschoolers, you know that we just about cleaned them out. The baby's bag was so full, she broke the handle and we had to double bag it. Too funny!
I thought this was pretty interesting. This is a map of what kind of fish are stocked and where. I was astounded.
I just thought this was a cute poster.
So that was our field trip. It was very informative and enlightening. And now here's my advice and plea: Please take advantage of the services offered from our local and state governments when it comes to things like the hatchery and your local library and museums and so many other entities like that. Sign the visitors log! You don't have to leave your address and phone number. Just leave your name and where you're from. That shows that there is interest from the public and hopefully these places will be available for others. If we're paying for it, let's get our money's worth!
I kept thinking of that line from Nemo "Fish gotta swim, bird gotta eat!" There were so many birds that were hanging around outside. There are huge bay doors they open to let the light in to encourage spawning. We kept imagining birds flying all day for the buffet! And, strangely, even though these are freshwater fish, I left with a craving for seafood. Wonder what that means?
Have a great day.
