Nekton lessons

A week or so ago I was given the opportunity to hold a workshop on nekton identification for students and staff from the Cohasset Center for Student Coastal Research (CSCR) and Derby Academy. Both organizations are helping the Mass. Wetland Restoration Program (now part of the Division of Ecological Restoration in Mass. Fish and Wildlife) monitor pre- and post-restoration salt marshes. (That's me in the navy blue polo shirt poking at something in my hand.)

Nekton are aquatic animals that can move on their own - the opposite of plankton, which is at the mercy of water currents. Nekton in wetland restoration sites typically includes fish like mummichogs, striped killifish, three-spined sticklebacks, and silversides and invertebrates like shrimp and crabs.

Fish and invertebrates were collected from fish traps at multiple restoration sites and brought in buckets to CSCR, where we all worked with dichotomous keys to identify what we had and improve our ability to distinguish similar species (like all the different kinds of killifish!) A dichotomous key helps identify things by asking pairs of questions that lead towards a correct identification. Perhaps our most interesting discovery of the day was a juvenile tomcod! Finding young estuarine fish in restoration sites is great evidence that restored wetlands will recover and start to support species that are representative of a healthy ecosystem.