Thread: Ask the Biologist

Originally Posted by Craig Johnson

FishTaxi,

What you are seeing are colonial animals called bryozoans. Many smaller animals join together to form the larger mass that you described. This animal is similar to the saltwater corals, but they do not build any lasting structures but rather have the 'goo' that you described. Bryozoans usually gather a lot of attention from folks at a lake as many have not ever seen them. They are harmless and are a indicator of good water quality. I've seen bryozoans as big as volleyballs and I have seen them from Hillsdale to El Dorado. They like to attach to old branches or twigs but they will also attach to metal dock lines. Do a google search on bryozoa or bryozoan and you can find all of the details. Here's a an informative website for you HERE.

Below is a picture of a bryozoans from the above site.

Lauren picked up some at El Dorado last week and they were on a stick. They are cool to look at.!

Not much fer :p eatin tho. Even blacken :D:D:D Crown no help either <*)}}}><

Short video by KDWP videographer Mike Blair of fall crappie fishing under lights with Brent Frazee. See more KDWP videos HERE.

good flick never tried it in the fall

Craig- was looking at main forum and Kentucky fisheries management was doing tests on Kentucky and Barkley lakes for numbers and other stuff. Their post said crappie could reach 10in in 3 to 4 years. Was wondering if our KS lakes can see crappie doing the same growth or does it depend on alot of different factors for different lakes. If KS lakes have a chance to reach that size which ones would they be? One other question . . . how is the KS fall fish studies going. THKS.

Originally Posted by BumpBump

Craig- was looking at main forum and Kentucky fisheries management was doing tests on Kentucky and Barkley lakes for numbers and other stuff. Their post said crappie could reach 10in in 3 to 4 years. Was wondering if our KS lakes can see crappie doing the same growth or does it depend on alot of different factors for different lakes. If KS lakes have a chance to reach that size which ones would they be? One other question . . . how is the KS fall fish studies going. THKS.

Bump,

Kansas crappie can grow quite quickly under ideal conditions. In Kansas reservoirs, it is the Age-2 (three growing seasons under their belts) or sometimes the Age-3 fish that exceed 10-inches. Growth rates vary lake to lake and also vary within a lake from year to year depending on available forage and population density as well as a host of other factors.

We looked at crappie growth at Chase State Fishing Lakes a few years back and found that the crappie population was exhibiting very good growth rates. Age-2 crappie measured 10.4-inches, Age-3 12-inches, and Age-5 14.4 inches (we didn't sample any Age-4 crappie). Chase had historically suffered from overpopulated/stunted crappie with poor growth rates. Saugeye were added to increase predation upon the crappie to reduce their density and improve growth rates. It appears to have worked!

Most of the "good" crappie lakes in Kansas would have crappie reaching 10-inches in 3 to 4 years.

Fall test netting has been completed by some biologists while others, like myself, still have a few more samples to pull. Once the field work has been completed, we will start entering data, crunching numbers, working on management reports, compiling fish stocking requests, and setting fish harvest regulations. The first 3 weeks of October this year was probably the best weather I've seen for sampling the lakes. Low wind speeds made for great sampling on my reservoirs where wind can make things quite difficult. October is a great month for fish bios as boats become their offices for a month or so!

How can you tell how old a fish is?

Originally Posted by SCOTTY1094

How can you tell how old a fish is?

Scotty1094,

Fish can be aged by examining hard body parts such as scales, fin rays, spines, bones, and otoliths. As a fish grows it lays down growth rings in these hard structures similar to the rings on a cut tree stump. In times of fast fish growth the rings are further apart and closer together during times of slow growth. With a little practice one can learn to identify the 'annuli' which are counted to determine how many years that fish has been alive. By taking some measurements and applying a little math one can determine the length of a fish at a given age during its' life as long as one knows how long the fish was at the time it was captured.

The picture below shows a magnified scale from a 15+inch crappie from El Dorado Reservoir. Annuli are indicated and backcalculated lengths at age are provided. Data such as this is important to fisheries managers when considering changes to fish harvest restrictions, stocking programs, or new specie introductions.