Show and Tell Visitor

April 14, 2010 is a day I will not soon forget! Mr. Hart called me over to see the unusual visitor one student brought in for show and tell. As I approached, the student began to share that he had brought in a native Brook Trout this morning on the bus. I could hardly believe it! At first glance, I was not sure that it was a Brook Trout so I had the student turn the fish so I could see it from the side and low and behold it was definitely a native Brook Trout! We estimated it to be about 9 inches. It had the beautiful vibrant red halo markings Brook Trout are known for.

Part of me was so proud of the student for being excited about our school project and the other part was wondering how in the world we were going to ensure this fish would remain alive for the entire school day. I knew that we could not put the fish in our tank or we would not have any trout for our upcoming release on May 14. Thankfully, I had an insulated bucket with a battery operated aerator. We used this bucket to transport the fingerlings to the stream last year and also to take a few fingerlings to the District Council meeting, but I was unsure if it would keep an adult Brook Trout alive for about 8 hours. I can happily report that it did!

The student reluctantly agreed to allow us to release the trout into the stream that we will release our fingerlings into. I explained to him that we could not allow him to take the fish back on the school bus because I was afraid the extended period of time without aerated water would kill the fish. The student attempted to persuade me by explaining that he had been giving the fish oxygen by swishing the water with his hand. I was very proud that he knew to provide oxygen for the trout, but encouraged him to allow us to release the fish into our local stream.

I enlisted the help of Ms. Gilbert to video the release of our show and tell visitor. It was really neat for the students to see this beautiful Brook Trout! We will never forget his visit.