I think they have a link on their website, but I will ask Jan who he
specifically talked to. Most major mfr's will donate goods to local
aquarium societies, etc., if it seems legitimate.
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Irate_Mormon" <archimed_at_netdoor.com>
>To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
>Sent: Wednesday, May 08, 2002 12:49 AM
>Subject: NANFA-- Fabulous Fishes and intriguing personality test
>
>
> > Well, since Jan seems reluctant (too busy) to talk about the event he
> > organized last Saturday, I'll take up the mantle. "Fabulous Fishes" was
> > held at the Clinton Community Nature Center near Jackson, MS. Based on
> > past events we expected an attendance of 200 people, but owing to the fact
> > that the Jackson paper did not print the press release, we had "only" 115
> > registered visitors. There were several distinguished visitors to help
>man
> > various stations, including Neil Douglas who presented me with an
> > autographed copy of "Fishes of Louisiana" (Thanks Neil!) since I missed
>out
> > on my last opportunity. The attendees were mostly youngsters, who
>received
> > some sort of school credit for visiting each of four "mandatory"
> > stations. Neil staffed the fish ID station, where he had an array of
> > pickled fishes for the kids to handle and figure out what they were. I
>had
> > an "optional" aquarium setup station which was a disaster because the
>water
> > was all murky from the gravel I _thought_ I had cleaned. The nice welaka
> > and signipinnis were totally obscured, but the little gar I had caught two
> > days previously (whilst searching for sand darters and shadow bass in the
> > Strong River) displayed himself nicely, despite being picked up off the
> > carport floor the previous day by my wife as she left for work that
> > morning. But actually the big hit at the aquarium station was the test
>kit
> > (donated by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals) - the kids didn't care about the
>fish
> > but loved doing pH, NH3, etc. tests with the little test tubes and
> > chemicals! There was also a fish scale station - all different kinds of
> > fish scales the kids could look at with dissecting scopes and what not. I
> > had to chuckle when I overheard Jan instructing one of the volunteers in
> > the use of a rather large, curled section of gar skin - "Get them to put
> > their arm inside and feel what it's like to actually BE a gar...", etc.
> > :-) There was also a respiration experiment with goldfish and bowfin, a
> > fishing gear demo, a magnetic "match the fish" game, and perhaps most
> > interesting was the dissection station manned by Steven George in the
> > pouring rain (actually helped keep the stench down), featuring paddlefish,
> > sharks, sturgeon, and I would presume a bony fish or two but I don't
> > remember seeing one. I enjoyed his demonstration of how to pull out a
> > notochord! I also got a kick out of his stuffed eel ("He'll mount
> > ANYTHING" said Jan). There was a fish skeleton station which seemed to be
> > the biggest hit, and a selection of fish skulls which I personally found
> > the most interesting. Oh, there was a GAMAKATU (or whatever you call it,
>I
> > can never remember) station where you make ink blots of real fishes on
> > paper, and lots of givaways (which seemed mainly to distract the kids from
> > the real business at hand). Sadly, the beautiful NANFA display went
> > largely unnoticed, but lots of NANFA T-shirts were worn :-).
> >
> > Anyway, after the show wound down, Jan and I had time to discuss various
> > things, and somehow the topic of melanistic F. chrysotus came up. I
> > mentioned that I had found a population of these guys, which appear
> > identical to the xanthic form except wherever the former is yellow, these
> > guys are BLACK. They look almost like mollies, that's how black they
> > are. The males in good color have red tails too, just like the normal
> > xanthic chrysotus, but it looks really awesome against that black body
>with
> > lighter bands. Jan said he had seen these too, although not in the same
> > part of the state. We were comparing habitat notes to see if we could pin
> > down the reason for this particular adaptation. It will be interesting to
> > see if the coloration persists in F1 and F2 offspring reared in an
> > aquarium. I will let you guys know how it works out - evidently nobody is
> > really investigating these fish.
> >
> > Lots of photos were taken and presumably will be posted to the NANFA page
> > when Jan gets back from the field and has time to do so. This was LOADS
>of
> > fun and I can't wait to do it again in September. It seems this is the
> > direction the MS chapter of NANFA is taking, rather than collecting trips,
> > etc., (I never really thought of it that way until Charlie pointed it out
> > in his last memo), so that is where my future efforts will be focused.
> >
> > Oh hey, I just noticed a newborn Heterandria in the mayonaisse-jar
> > "aquarium" on my desk :-) More another time...
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Prost,
> >
> > Martin
> > Jackson, MS
> > -------------------
> > Life's a fish and then you fry.
>--
> > /"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
> > / reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
> > / Association"
> > / This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
>Association
> > / nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
> > / subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
> > / nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
> > / nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
> > / For more information about NANFA, visit our web page,
>http://www.nanfa.org
>/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
>/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
>/ Association"
>/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
>/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
>/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
>/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
>/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
>/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org
Prost,
Martin
Jackson, MS
-------------------
Life's a fish and then you fry.
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org
</x-flowed>