Larval Fish of the Webhannet River Estuary

Since 2008, Wells Reserve researchers have been sampling the incoming tide, four times monthly, for ichthyoplankton or “larval fish.” When fish eggs hatch, the newborn fish are in the larval stage of development and are unable to swim against the tides/currents, and are therefore plankton. This research project has been tracking changes in the composition and abundance of larval fish in an effort to understand how climate change and warming ocean temperatures will affect the timing and success of spawning events in the Gulf of Maine. Come and learn from Jeremy Miller all about this early life history of fishes and why the data being collected is so important to understanding both current and future fish populations in the Gulf of Maine.