Educator Handbook: Something FishySomething Fishy
GRADE LEVEL: K - 3, 4 - 8
OBJECTIVE:
Students will be able to trace the life cycle of fish and be able to identify common species found in the Ohio River e.g. bass, walleye, catfish, gar, and other forms of life such as crayfish, clams and snails.
MATERIALS:
Posters of Fish commonly found in fresh water streams Handout with fish identification points Overhead of fish identification points The Magic School Bus On the Ocean Floor, by Joanna Cole Art Paper Crayons, markers, or watercolors
PROCEDURE:
1. Explain the markings on several kinds of fish as seen in the poster. (Posters from state and U.S. fish and wildlife services are excellent.) Some of the common fish that students may recognize are the large mouth bass, walleye, gar and catfish.
2. Use the overhead to show different kinds of shapes, mouths, coloration, and breeding habits.
3. Direct students to work in groups to create their own underwater scene and add other living creatures and plants that are present in fresh water streams and rivers like the Ohio. Students who have gone fishing or investigated ponds and streams on their own will have many contributions. Crayfish, freshwater clams, mussels, and snails are important additions.
4. Students can share their work with the class explaining what they have included and why.
5. Discuss what fish eat and the food chain in the water. Large fish eat smaller fish, insects
and plants. Medium size fish eat smaller fish, insects and plankton (microscopic plant and animal life). Minnows and mussels eat plankton. Crayfish are scavengers. Snails are herbivores and scavengers.
6. Read The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor, by Joanna Cole to the students. The book explains the life of fish and sea creatures that are common to both salt water and fresh water.
7. Explain the life cycle of fish from egg, to fry, to adult. (Fry are young fish.) Fish continue to grow larger as long as they live and have a good food supply. Ask students if they are familiar with any life cycle pattern of fish. Some students may be familiar with the life cycle of the salmon that swims upstream to lay its eggs as an adult.
8. Add a life cycle to their picture of river life.
Short-nose Gar in the Ohio River aquarium at the Interpretive Center
EXTENSIONS / EVALUATIONS:
9. Have students examine a fish model or a real fish to learn its parts.
10. On a visit to the Falls of the Ohio ask one of the fishermen what kinds of fish they are catching. Explore the shallow water to see what kind of animal life you can find. (Crayfish and minnows should be common.) Do not keep specimens out of water very long and put them all back in their environment as soon as possible.
11. Take the students on a fishing trip. The Falls of the Ohio is an easily accessible place. Record the number and kinds of fish caught, their length, weight and markings.
12. Go to a pond and have students compare the ecosystems of the pond to the river. Direct them to make charts of the different kinds of living things found in both systems.
Ohio River Fish in the Interpretive Center Lobby
Fish identification for the taxidermy mounts in the lobby
Something Fishy
Adaptation Advantage Examples
Mouthsucker shaped mouth feeds on very small plants and animals sucker, carp elongate upper jaw feeds on prey it looks down on paddlefish, sturgeon elongate lower jaw feeds on prey it sees above barracuda, snook duckbill jaws grasps prey muskellunge, pike extremely large jaws surrounds prey bass, grouper
Body Shapetorpedo shape fast moving trout, salmon, tuna flat bellied bottom feeder catfish. sucker vertical disk feeds above or below butterfly fish, bluegill horizontal disk bottom dweller flounder, halibut hump backed stable in fast moving water sockeye salmon, chub, razorback sucker, coho salmon
Colorationlight colored belly predators have difficulty seeing it from below most minnows, perch, tuna, mackerel dark upper side predators have difficulty seeing it from above bluegill, crappie, barracuda, flounder vertical stripes can hide in vegetation muskellunge, pickerel, bluegill horizontal stripes can hide in vegetation yellow and white bass, snook mottled can hide in rocks and on bottom trout, grouper, rockbass, hogsucker
Reproduction
eggs deposited in bottom hidden from predators trout, salmon, most minnows eggs deposited in nests protected by adults bass, stickleback floating eggs dispersed in high numbers striped bass eggs attached to vegetation stable until hatching perch, northern pike, carp, muskellunge live bearers high survival rate guppies
Spotted Grouper Created January 26, 2010 |
