RE: NANFA-- return to the valley

Nicholas J. Zarlinga (njz_at_clevelandmetroparks.com)
Mon, 12 Aug 2002 08:07:38 -0400

With the frequency that you snorkel, do you ever use a video recorder to
record any of your experiences? At the conference, there was a person who
showed a video on snorkeling Michigan lakes. As you know, she wrote a book
about it. She was very effective in her presentation; albeit a bit "bunny
huggish" to many of us, however very effective to her main audience,
families interested in nature. She gives presentations at nature centers
and the like around Michigan. I think with the diversity of the streams
that you explore, your presentations would be very interesting, and
valuable as a record of steam degredation from an underwater
perspective-the most important viewpoint. Also, do you keep notes on where
you snorkeled and what you saw? Finally, you alluded to behavioral
differences in different species of fish. I think that you have the
workings of a very interesting book on fish behavior in the natural
habitat, very different than most of the ID books around. This could prove
extremely valuable as the different species, in general, are declining year
by year. Most of what the fathers of natural history did in the 18 and
1900's was to just identify and preserve specimens with a little on their
habitat requirements. Your observations would go a long way to preserve
behavior and habitat requirements (the IDing is pretty much complete) for
future generations. If you haven't started, I think that you should try to
develop this interest on a very different level.

Nick Zarlinga
Aquarium Biologist
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
216-661-6500 ex 4485

"Fish worship... is it wrong??" (Ray Troll)

On Monday, August 12, 2002 1:11 AM, Prizma_at_aol.com [SMTP:Prizma at aol.com]
wrote:
> i just returned from a weekend wander w/ my daughter of seven. we started
off
> sampling ice cream at the famous mayfield's dairy in athens tn and
checked on
> a mapped little spring that flows from near a small house. guthies
spring. i
> kept trying to locate it using the gazateer but the map road numbers were
> incorrest. finally i got true bearings and confirmed them when i spied a
> totally vine covered ancient springhouse. years ago the owners had filled
in
> the spring run to make a "nice" front yard for the house. well their well
> went dry at the original spring house. hum... i wonder why:). the spring
> burst forth downstream 50' from the culvert ditch side that runs
alongside
> the backroad. i did not get in it but looked like there were a few orange
> side daces dashing about. im always thinking flame chubbs in these parts
and
> i sure understand why they are decimated with all the spring and the
spring
> runs tampering that takes place. next time i will kick net it, who knows
> maybe a few flames will be there but i doubt it. we headed on to etowah
tn
> and the swinging midway drive-in to catch the new scooby do flick which
was
> followed by the spider movie, 8 legged freaks. it started putting fear in
my
> little girl ( she was covering her eyes and asking me when it was ok to
look
> :) so we cranked the van up and headed toward my buddies cabin near the
> tellico river.
> after a good nights rest and no bad dreams we drove across the state line
via
> the cherohala skyway. a very fine drive. scenic overlooks. impressive
vistas.
> it gets to almost 6000 ft at hooper's bald. then drops down to about 3 or
> 4000 at the joyce kilmer and cherokee state forest. we hiked back to a
site
> called rattlers ford that i use to camp at. it has been over 3 years
since i
> last had visited w/ my son and a friend of his. a wonderful clear
mountain
> stream flows along the campsite. most excellent. giant hemlocks. riffles,
> pools and boulders. we put on masks and i quickly noted warpaint shiners,
> green fin and greenside darters, molted sculpins, hogsuckers,
stonerollers,
> river chubbs ( a big different than i see at home ), rainbow trout...
maybe
> brooks, a unknown saffron type shiner ( cant id ), colored rosy side dace
and
> longnose dace. the longnose dace were very sleek and much bigger than i
> remember from the citico. they tended to stay under rocks in the riffle
runs.
> very large fleshy nose. nicely colored. the green fin darters lacked the
> bright green fins i had remembered from before. some of the stonerollers
were
> developing the pattern of blueish tubercules on their heads. i turned
over a
> few rocks to look for hellbenders but only found a couple unknown
salamanders
> and sculpins. i had seen a couple small hellbenders here a few years ago
> along w/ a dead one resulting from a trout fisherman. no bass or sunfish
were
> seen in the 100 yard stretch we explored. the time years before i had
been
> mystified on the ids but this time i was only skunked on the shiner. i
would
> like to spend more time working the length of the stream but i wanted to
> spend most my time teaching my little girl. we had a nice evening
building a
> twig tower campfire and watching the sky for persied meteors and
fireflies.
> during the day we had also watched a perfect dragonfly be ressurected
after
> being long doused in the cold mountain stream water. we put a magnifying
> glass on the little beast to study its intricate body parts, dried it off
on
> a warm rock, blew off the water with our breath and watched its body
slowly
> pulse back to life. beautiful creature, yellow banding and bright
irridescent
> green eyes. dissappeared into the sky.
> the next morning we broke camp early and hiked back to the van. i wanted
to
> check this stream's exodus just above the point where it flowed into
> santatelee lake proper. i was amazed to see tangerine darters at this
site.
> at one point i had 7 in my glass and another 2 just over a stonework. the
> reddist tangerine males were in the intense rapids and their back dorsal
fins
> were flayed a bit. dark, blackish were the two dorsal fins. very honcho.
> warpaints and the unknown shiners once again. large black tailed bass
were
> here. i rarely see tangerines expressing fear nor concern. they always
seem
> confident and inqusitive. yet all the river chubbs were hiding under
stones
> at 10 am. not like yesterday afternoon when they were very active at the
> other locale. hum. could the bass have been in hunting mode? there were
> several very big cruisers about.
> one thing that very much impressed me after seeing so much silt in my
recent
> travels. these massive boulders, stones and gravel were relatively silt
free.
> i could easily see how so much more habitat was available for all the
> critters. deep boulder pockets, lots of hiding places. very deep silt
free
> pools. if i could have dove down im sure beneath many of the large, flat
> rocks were hellbenders. i would love to return to this area and spend 2
or 3
> days checking out all the niches including the lake and its exit flow,
the
> cheoah river. very nice camping is along the banks of both the lake and
> feeder streams. some of these streams are quite large. many springs i
presume
> would flow in offering different habitats.
> we headed to robbinsville nc for some lunch by driving along the lake and
> found the dam that allowed but just a small stream that was exiting this
high
> mountain lake.
> after lunch in robbinsville ( has anyone ever read peter jenkins' walk
across
> america? this is the town he was run out of because of the locals
suspicion
> which eventualized into death threats against his dog and presumably
peter. )
> we made it down to andrews nc ( just south of which lays murphy nc where
the
> distraught white boy after being runoff and then nearly wasted w/
influenza
> for several days in an appalachian trail shelter found love in a black
> families offering ) ( great story, and true... peter j walked all across
> america and found more than most of us will ever experience. ) ( he began
the
> walk over despair for our country after the vietnam war ) ( awesome
> experiences he had )
> anyway it was back to the valley river where my nw ga and nc trip had
> concluded. this was the river fritz r had urged me to check out. that day
had
> been mirred in cold, murky, leech infested water. not a good experience
on
> the whole.
> now the water was clear, cool and inviting even tho the substrate was
very
> silty. the river flows thru a plethora of farms, fields, houses and man's
> work. thus the silt i believe. cerulean and i worked our way much futher
> upstream and saw in all: rainbow trout, redline and gilt darters, creek
> chubbs, big eye chubbs, hogsuckers, stonerollers, sculpin, warpaint,
mirror,
> whitetail and a emerald type shiner(s), blotched chubbs, massive
redfinned
> carp, bass, rock bass and redbreast sunnies. redhorse type suckers tho im
> getting concerned on seperating and iding properly out the carp. no
leeches,
> orange side dace or gambusia. a very good locale that merits a full day.
i
> had thought i had seen a blotch side logperch in the murky water on my
first
> visit but i now believe it to have been a gilt. i dont know why i did not
> consider that possibility then. they do look somewhat the same and have
the
> same get up and go behavior. the blotched chubb id im sure of after
> memorizing the body marking and characterisitcs and comparing them to
> peterson's and the range maps. i observed over 6 of them at only one of
the
> many snorkle sites we tried. they were just below a small dam probably
> created by kids piling up boulders. 17 species for sure in about an hour
and
> a half of snorkling. i know i could go 20 to 25 if i spent the day there.
> we headed on back to chatt making stops along the way. mostly the ocoee
> river. an odd assortment of dams, lakes, wooden tresseled water shutes,
> manmade concreted kayak runs, nearly dry stream flows and bridges make up
its
> length. very clear water in places upstream tho probably devoid of most
life
> as the water rages for kayakers intermintently and then is abruptly
diverted
> for power production on some kind of schedule. recently a rock fall took
out
> a portion of the water shute which runs high along the ridge. it directs
the
> river water in and through the shutes to turbine generators. the upper
ocoee
> river was modified and used for the whitewater portion of the atlanta
> olympics a few years back. all the structures, parking, roads and welcome
> center still remain. interesting area to explore.
> we have returned home a bit after dark tonight and i should be in bed. my
> little snorkler enjoyed herself when the water was not too cold and the
rocks
> not too slippery. she excitedly got to watch while snorkling sparing
> whitetail shiners and gilt darters coming to her hands. the conasauga
runs
> about 80 degrees this time of year so a trip there would be ideal for
her.
> much warmer. she had a couple shiver fits but were quickly eased in the
warm
> sun of today. all and all a fine long weekend. school starts this week
for
> her which will limit our excursions.
> good night all.
> casper
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/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org