Fish+Information


 * Where Are the Fish?**

After studying at Flat Rock Brook, we were lucky enough to discover that mosquito/gambusia and sunfish dwelled in the Quarry Pond.

Gambusia fish are referred to as mosquito fish. Why was this name chosen? This is because the gambusia fish have been known to be good for mosquite larve control because they eat mosquitos (the flies). However, they are not very good at eating mosquitos and will quickly replace the native fish of the pond if you bring these fish in. They are very agressive fish and have been known to this for competition for food and territory. These fish are also very agressive towards towards themselves and can be cannibals! There are two types of gambusia fish, the Gambusia affinis which dwell in the west, and the gambusia holbrooki, which dwell east from its counterpart affinis.

Taxonomy is the classification of organisms in an ordered system that indicates evolutionary relationships. The taxonomy of a gambusia fish:
 * Kingdom || Animalia ||
 * Phylum || Chordata ||
 * Class || Actinopterygii ||
 * Order || Cyprinodontiformes ||
 * Family || Poeciliidae ||
 * Genus || Gambusia ||
 * Species || Affinis/holbrooki ||

Sunfish were also seen at Flat Rock Brook. Sunfishes are very common lake and pond fishes. They are small, but not as small as gambusias. Sunfishes can weigh up to 2 pounds. They spawn, or deposit eggs/sperm directly into the water, frequently during the spring and the summer in shallow nests, clearings, scooped out of the pond bottom by males. Males aggressively protect thei rnexts and young from other competitors or other male sunfishes. Sunfishes eat plankton, bottom invertebrates, and smaller fish. Here is a picture of a sunfish and a picture of a clearing we found in Flat Rock Brook.



Taxonomy of the sunfish:
 * Kingdom || Animalia ||
 * Phylum || Chordata ||
 * Class || Actinopterygii ||
 * Order || Perciformes ||
 * Family || Centrarchidae ||
 * Genus || //Centrarchus// ||
 * Species || //C. macropterus// ||

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