Rego and I have gone out for spotfin killies (F. luciae) many times. The
last time we were at the only Mass site. This time we were not having much
luck. Before giving up I headed right up to the edge of the salt marsh;
right near the road. I got a couple. I figured a few more sweeps of the
dip net. I took a step into the creek...I was wearing hip waders...I'm not
afraid of a little mud. Sweep...sweep...sweep...GIANT SUCKING SOUND!
Right up to my crotch! Over the hip waders. And as you know that mud is
the nastiest, stinkiest mud I've ever encountered...even for a saltmarsh!
It's a good thing Rego is a fire fighter. We went to the nearest fire
station to hose off. And be it know...I saved the catch in the net that
contained several luciae. FUNDULUS HUNTER! (killie poop)
After that we sloshed into the local Burger King. We have a tradition of
slopping up fast food joints while collecting...but that's a whole other
ranting. We have looked for them at other promising looking site to the
east to no avail. We will try to check in RI.
I will check on the salt marsh in Marion/Mattapoisett. I do have access to
the Crescent Beach area. I know a resident. It was an amazing marsh. I
was really impressed by the size of the meadows.
Brian Bastarache
Bristol County Natural History Center/ Bristol Co. Agricultural School
Dighton, MA
bast_at_ici.net
At 10:06 PM 7/17/00 EDT, you wrote:
>Sounds good, Brian, I think you guys hit almost everything available. I have
>two questions of you & Rick--the first, is Crescent Beach in Mattapoisett
>adjacent to the Aucoot salt marsh in Marion, the really big marsh with
>Converse Point on its east side? If you can get access to this marsh it's
>one of the best on the mainland; of course, it's Marion and they're not
>thrilled at visitors parking there...
>
>My second question (observation, really) is that when you guys go back to
>southern RI you should try to hit a salt marsh and look for my faves,
>spotfin killifish (Fundulus luciae). There aren't any collecting records for
>spotfins for most of RI even though they should be there. There's only my
>collection of them in Barrington, RI, way on the other side of the state.
>Rick knows what to look for, be prepared to net lots of mud! And for that
>matter, they haven't been reported from Connecticut either.
>
>--Bruce Stallsmith
>Huntsville, AL "southern culture on the skids"
>
>>Not wanting to waste the daylight and not having any luck at the bogs we
>>decided to head to site #2: Cresant Beach, Mattapoisett, MA. This is an
>>ocean site and as we all know...there are plenty of fish in the sea. Some
>>dip netting through the rock weed (Fucus sp.), a little snorkling with a
>>hand net, and a couple of dags of the seine all yeilded the ubiquidous
>>inland silersides (Menidia berylina) and a couple juvenile northern
>>kingfish (Menticirrhus saxatilis). We moved to the east end of the beach
>>near a large salt marsh. Dipping and seineing produced cunners
>>(Tautogolabrus adspersus), tautog (Tautoga onitis), northern pipefish
>>(Sygnathus fuscus), striped killifish (Fundulus majalis) and mummichogs
>>(Fundulus heteroclitus). Try not finding mummis near a salt marsh.
>>
>>We had a hell of a day! This week we're planning two trips...some
>>frshwater collecting in the Wood River and surrounding ponds in southern
>>Rhode Island and some more marine collecting in Newport and Portsmouth RI.
>>
>>Brian Bastarache
>>Bristol County Natural History Center/ Bristol Co. Agricultural School
>>bast_at_ici.net
>
>________________________________________________________________________
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>
>
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