Catfish? I Was Too Busy Looking for Food and Got Myself Family Reunions
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Texas Wildlife Association presents.... December 2013 Kid’s Quarterly Mini-Mag! Vol. 7 No. 4 Postcards from Nancy....By Cara Bierschwale Howdy, Friends! Do you know what I enjoy doing just as much as exploring He said, “Excuse me, young ‘dillos, but could you help out the outdoors? I love hanging out with my family at our Nineband an old catfish? I was too busy looking for food and got myself Family Reunions. Once a year, we all travel from our homes stuck in this muddy hole. I just need a little push back into the in different parts of Texas and spend a long weekend at a fun deeper water before this puddle dries up.” and relaxing place. This year, we met up at Lake Corpus Christi My cousin Nate laughed and replied, “Sure we can help State Park and had grasshopper roasts, mud baths, and digging you, Mr. Catfish, but do you always dine in the mud? That’s contests. My playful cousins, Nate and Neil O’Dillo, were so sure gross. And why are you called CAT-fish? Do you purr?” that one of them would win the contests that they had blue The catfish chuckled and his long ‘whiskers’ quivered. “Why ribbons made before they even arrived. yes, I tend to find my food near the bottom of the lake. I use Many parts of Texas have these barbels to touch the mud and taste experienced continued drought Photo by Paul Budd the water for tasty morsels of fish. I guess conditions over the past years, (Wikimedia) I was too focused to realize how close to but Lake Corpus Christi remains a shore I was. And no, I don’t purr.” popular vacation spot for camping, “Since we are good diggers,” Neil said, swimming, picnicking, and fishing. “I’ll bet we can help by digging a trench This 21,000-acre lake is located 35 behind you. That way, some of the water miles northwest of the Gulf Coast willw fill it up and you can swim back out.” city of Corpus Christi and offers a “Well fry me up and call me dinner!” diverse ecological area with a said the catfish. “That’s a wonderful idea! mixture of brushland and marshes, You all should get blue ribbons for your mammals, and a variety of birds. teamwork.” When I arrived at my campsite near Nate and Neil smiled. As for me, I was the water, I noticed that the water glad we were able to help the old catfish. level of the lake had dropped However, I couldn’t help but wonder what because of the drought. I could see parts of the pier which are he meant by ‘touching and tasting’ the mud for usually underwater, the boat ramp was completely exposed, food. As soon as I get back home, I am and there were muddy pits along the shoreline where the going to learn all I can about how effects of the drought have uncovered the soft lake bottom. catfish find food… and why they’re Nate and Neil showed up and we talked about how nice called CAT-fish. it would be to take a mud bath before seeing the rest of our family. Just then, we caught a glimpse of movement near Goodbye ‘Purr’ Now! some shallow water. It was a fish! He looked like he was stuck in the mud and there was just enough water to cover his body. Nancy Nine-band Attention Teachers: Critter Connections is made Free class sets available while they last! possible by a grant from the Send your name, school name, San Antonio Livestock grade taught, and mailing address to Exposition. [email protected]. You may also download all issues for free at http:// www.texas-wildlife.org/program-areas/critter- connections-magazine. Join TWA Today! S ! Last year, we provided programming for over 62,000 youth across the state through Distance Learning, Discovery Trunks, Enrichment Modules, Wildlife by Design¸ Learning Across New Dimensions in Science (L.A.N.D.S.), and Texas Brigades. Contact us to find out how we may help you incorporate wildlife and natural resources into your classroom! Most programs are free for teachers. For information on our educational programs, please contact us at 800-TEX-WILD (800-839-9453). Joining TWA is optional. Each membership helps support TWA programs but it is not required to participate in our programs. Membership Levels: ____ Life Member $2,400 ____ President’s Council $1,000 ____ Corporate $635 ____ Patron $375 ____ Family $230 ____ Active $145 ____ Associate $50 ____ Student $20 ____ Youth $12 ____ Online $35 (ages 17-22) (ages 16 & under) All members receive a one year subscription to our monthly magazine, Texas Wildlife. Taste Test Games By Cara Bierschwale (Adapted from Neuroscience for Kids at http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chtaste.html) Do you and your friends have catfish sense? Catfish have poor eyesight, but their superior senses of taste and smell help in locating food while swimming through water. In this game, try to do the same and use only your senses of taste and smell to identify as many food flavors as you can. Game #1: Tasty Buds Game #2: The Nose Knows The whisker-like barbels around a catfish’s mouth house taste Catfish have chemoreceptors buds and are used to search for food in murky water. The taste along their bodies and buds on our tongues are, of course, important for detecting the olfactory receptors at the pits of taste (gustation) of food. See if different parts of your tongue their nostrils which allow them are most sensitive to different characteristics of food (salty, bitter, to “smell” chemicals in the sour, sweet). water and detect prey. Along with our tongues, our noses and Materials: sense of smell (olfaction) are -Salty water also responsible for detecting Blue catfish barbels -Sugary water and recognizing food flavors. by Grady Allen -Lemon juice -Unsweetened cocoa with water Materials: -Toothpicks -Blindfold -Jelly beans (bag of assorted flavors) Directions: Give each person a set of solutions and some -Baby food (several fruit and vegetable flavors with similar toothpicks. Dip a toothpick into one solution and lightly touch texture) the tongue on different areas (front, center, back, right side, left side). Repeat this procedure with each solution (it may help to Directions: Blindfold a friend and have him hold his nose. Give drink a bit of water in between tests). Are certain areas of your him a few different jelly beans, one at a time. Can he tell the tongue more sensitive to detecting the tastes of specific solutions, difference between the jelly bean flavors while holding his nose? or are all areas equally sensitive? Indicate on a drawing of the Try again using small spoonfuls of baby food. Take turns trying to tongue the areas that are most sensitive to the different tastes. identify flavors with and without the use of your noses. Compare your tongue drawings with each other. 2 puzzles.....mazes.....oh my! go ahead.....give it a try! Fishy Word-Find Directions: Find and circle the words listed. WORDS: S W I M B L A D D E R A U CATFISH BLUE FRESHWATER NOCTURNAL FLATHEAD MADTOM D R O A D I P O S E F I N POPULAR SCALELESS SWIM BLADDER A T R E T A W H S E R F O CHANNEL BULLHEAD GAFFTOPSAIL E F M A H S I F E M A G C GAMEFISH BARBELS ADIPOSE FIN H U B L A P R L L V W Q T L S L S E O N A E E A M U L R I B T T O T L L K A R U Q L F O F P H A U A D N word searches...... B H W L T F R E C P P T A S L E B R A B A S X E O L G H R R L G C D A O B M P C H A N N E L F R A U L T K L T P C B S H E I S X E Having fun fishing by Grady Allen Name That Catfish! Directions: Match each of the following descriptions to a catfish. Use the physical characteristics listed and clues from the article, “Texas Catfish – A Freshwater Favorite,” for help to draw one line to the correct picture, then a second line to its common name. (See the answer key on page 6.) Forked tail, longer anal fin with 1 more rays, largest freshwater AaTadpole Madtom sportfish in Texas Small catfish, venomous glands 2 at the base of fin spines, lives Bb in muddy-bottomed lakes and Flathead Catfish streams Yellowish catfish, can weigh 3 over 100 pounds, lower jaw Cc projects beyond the upper jaw, Channel Catfish prefer to eat live food Slightly-notched tail fin, dark 4 chin barbels, commonly fished Dd for in the Panhandle and East Black Bullhead Texas The most preferred catfish to 5 catch in Texas, forked tail, Ee smaller fish have dark spots Blue Catfish along the body (Images from commons.wikimedia.org) 3 corner Gafftopsail catfish by In Texas, catfish rank second as the Grady Allen most popular freshwater gamefish, just behind largemouth bass. Catfish are known to be fun to catch, mainly by rod and reel or trotline, and many people find their meat delicious. Both freshwater and saltwater catfish exist in Texas waters, c but catching the freshwater species is preferred because they are easier to clean and tastier to eat.