7/29/2023 0 Comments Yellow stone fish![]() “It is a complicated parasite and we’ve got the perfect storm on the Yellowstone right now.”Ī 183-mile stretch of the Yellowstone has been closed since August 19. and Europe,” says Eileen Ryce, a biologist overseeing hatcheries and fish health for Montana’s fish and wildlife agency. “This is considered one of the worst parasites for salmonid fisheries in the U.S. The river closure is meant to keep the parasite out of other rivers and to keep fishers and boaters from further taxing sick fish. Those biologists note that it’s been a hot summer, and streamflows have been historically low-stressful conditions that make cold-adapted fish populations ripe for a deadly disease outbreak. (Science writer Ed Yong explains how this scientifically elusive parasite evolved from a jellyfish-like creature at The Atlantic.) It worms its way into fishes’ kidneys, where it causes proliferative kidney disease and can obliterate fish populations, according to state biologists. The culprit is a tiny, highly contagious parasite called Tetracalsula bryosalmonae, which exclusively attacks fish. Fishing boats, inner tubers, even swimming dogs: none are allowed to get into the water. This devastating scene has state officials so worried that, on August 19, they closed a 183-mile stretch of the river and all of its tributaries until further notice. As if that wasn’t enough, they’ve recently spotted rainbow trout and Yellowstone cutthroat trout-both economically important species-go belly-up as well. ![]() ![]() Starting in mid-August, biologists counted 4,000 dead whitefish floating on the Yellowstone or washed ashore, but they estimate that the true number is in the tens of thousands. A light breeze carried the sweetish smell of aquatic decay.Įarlier this month, the Yellowstone River made national headlines with the news of an unprecedented fish die-off in its usually healthy waters. All was still, save for an osprey scavenging the corpses of pale, shimmering whitefish along the gravelly shoreline. Yet at the Yellowstone River near Livingston, Montana, not a single oar boat or even a fishing line broke the river’s calm surface. It was the kind of clear late-August day that anglers live for.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |