General News: Brook Trout Exhibit Opens at Nature Museum
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| You can meet some adult brookies at the Wildlife Education Center. |
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| Pam Golben and museum trustee Lucy Swift cut the ribbon on the brook trout exhibit. |
April 07, 2011
Trout fishing season opened this month and, along with it, a fascinating new exhibit at the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum that will teach you everything you may ever want to know about New York State’s official freshwater fish, the brook trout.
In the exhibit at the museum’s Wildlife Education Center you will find six adult brook trout and about 25 fingerlings that measure around three inches long.
Pam Golben, the director of the Wildlife Education Center, says that brook trout are smaller than the brown trout and rainbow trout, growing to a top weight of around two pounds. They require cold, clean, well- oxygenated water to survive and live on tiny plankton, insects and other fish.
Golben says that the kids love watching the fish at feeding time when they torpedo to the surface of the water for food. She notes that the fish are visual feeders and when they see a human approach they know its meal time.
A highly sensitive fish, brook trout are sometimes referred to as an “indicator” species because their disappearance from our waters can alert us to changes in water system. Golbin says that the presence of brook trout in a stream is a good indicator of the high-quality of the water and some groups are working to ensure that the fish have the cooling shade they need by re-planting along the banks of streams.
Learn more about the beautifully-colored brook trout at the Wildlife Education Center every Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 4 pm . Visit the museum’s website here.
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