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A School for Alewives

April 4, 2017

Northeast U.S. coastal waters are known for their productive fisheries, and alewife are a big food source for commercial species. WHOI biologist Joel Llopiz investigates the factors that affect the survival of alewife larvae—using otoliths, tiny calcium carbonate deposits in fish heads. Alewife are one of six species that will be studied in the new Long-Term Ecological Research site. The LTER builds on data collected from the already established Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory to the north and the Ocean Observatories Initiative Pioneer Array to the south. It will be bolstered by collaborations with researchers from Maine to North Carolina. (Photo by Andrew Jones, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)