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Stomach Contents
Fish, as survey chair Bill Henkel often informs, make the best surveyors. So take advantage of their hard work to figure out what’s going on in the lake! Below are some pictures of commonly found food items. Following the pictures are instructions for examining stomach contents by “fluidizing.”
Before full fluidization, seeing the stomach contents can be difficult. Photo credit: Don Wicklund
After being fluidized, these scuds, a common name for a freshwater shrimp of the Genus Gammarus, a crustacean, are plainly visible. Scuds give fish flesh a red color. Photo credit: Jonathan Leathers
A stomach bulging with groceries. Photo credit: Jonathan Leathers
A tasty dragonfly nymph. Dragonflys are typically found in warmer waters, with emergent vegetation that the aquatic insects can crawl up onto to emerge as winged adults. Photo credit: Don Wicklund Henkel’s instructions for examining stomach contents: 1. Open the stomach, put contents into a white-bottomed vessel: plastic tub, paper plate, Tupperware, what have you. 2. Add a little water, 1/4 to 1-inch, and “fluidize” the contents. “The contents open up like a book,” says Henkel. 3. If you can identify the stomach contents, please include that info in the stomach contents section of your Survey Report. 4. If stumped, send a close-up picture to Bill Henkel to ID, or bring a sample to a meeting. Bill will pay one dollar for every critter that stumps him (well, not really, but it sounds good). Please forward the photos to Bill or put them on a CD and send or hand deliver to: Bill Henkel, Survey Chair Please include relevant info, such as:
But mostly take your digital camera and send some good close-up photos for identification. 5. Bill Henkel will respond and you can then update your Survey Report. Click below for additional stomach content images
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