Joseph Fiscella: Week 8 at Suffolk County Vector Control

This past week, we conducted our second week of fish sampling, our first week being 4 weeks ago. We followed similar procedures compared to the beginning of July. Overall, the interns and I were definitely more efficient with the data collection, and we were able to complete sampling from four different sites by the end of Wednesday. This week, the heat was a bit extreme, reaching up into the nineties for most of our time on the marshes. Additionally, we were finding a lot more fish than we did the first week of sampling. When we sample, we measure in millimeters the first 30 fish of each species that we catch, and then we just count the rest of the fish and record the total number. During the entirety of our first week, there were more than 30 fish of one species (mummichog, for example), in only two of the traps that we set. However, this week, an extremely large majority of the traps had more than 30 fish; some of our traps had fish numbers in the hundreds. While mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus) were still the most prevalent fish that we caught, we collected a decent amount of sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus); the sheepshead minnows tend to be smaller and have a distinct striped pattern that make them easy to identify in the field. In addition to the fish, we also caught eels, fiddler and blue crabs, shrimp, and even jellyfish. Thanks to my fellow NEVBD intern, Jashan, I have some photos this time around of me counting the fish once they were moved from the metal traps to the trays. We ended the week on Friday at Cupsogue County Park, a site located in Westhampton beach. All we did was set out eight fish traps so that a different group of interns could collect samples during the weekend. It was nice to go back to fish sampling this week, and I appreciate the variety of the work we do at Suffolk County Vector Control beyond just ticks and mosquitoes.









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