Fishes

Fifty-four biologists from nine organizations, including USGS, participated in a two-day Fish Slam event on December 13 - 14, 2023 in Southwest Florida.

USGS' and Loyola University New Orleans' innovative research techniques played a role in the decision to downlist the Okaloosa Darter, a freshwater fish endemic to northwest Florida, from Endangered to Threatened in 2011, and the removal of the fish from the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 2023.

Fish Slam events link research institutions such as museums and universities with federal, state, and local government agencies that possess expertise and field equipment to collect nonnative fishes, providing unique access to specimens for these institutions.

Fifty-seven fish biologists from 12 organizations participated in a three-day Fish Chat and Slam event in South Florida.

The USGS is participating in the Louisiana-Trustee Implementation Group Monitoring and Adaptive Management work group to assess the injuries caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and to select the appropriate restoration measures to compensate the public for the injury to coastal and marine resources.

WARC researchers partnered with Gulf Sturgeon decision makers and biologists to develop a Bayesian network model that uses habitat characteristics to predict the quantity of juvenile winter foraging habitat under alternative river discharge and timing of juvenile arrival scenarios.

In March 2021, USGS researchers and partners conducted the first-ever Virtual Fish Slam. The bi-annual Fish Slam event helps monitor new introductions and document range expansion of known non-native freshwater fishes.

USGS WARC works with partners on early detection and rapid response (ED/RR) efforts, rapidly removing newly introduced non-native marine fishes from Florida’s coastal waters to prevent invasions.

WARC scientists work with local partners to verify and document sightings of non-native marine fishes.

Fifty fish biologists from 15 organizations participated in a three-day Fish Chat and Slam event in South Florida on November 5-7, 2019.

Researchers are investigating the influence of Antimycin A on invasive carp and non-target fishes by measuring the effects of a novel species-specific bait formulation.

In March and June 2019, USGS researchers joined partners in Treasure Coast and Central Florida where they sampled freshwater bodies for non-native fishes. The bi-annual Fish Slam event helps monitor new introductions and document range expansion of known non-native fishes.