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Herring Catchers

February 18, 2019

Collecting river herring specimens in a local creek are (from left) WHOI Summer Student Fellow Sara Hamilton, MIT-WHOI Joint Program student Ellie Bors, and WHOI lab assistant Julie Pringle. The fish swim from the ocean up coastal streams to spawn in fresh water each spring. In recent years, however, their populations have plummeted. WHOI biologist Joel Llopiz investigates the factors that affect the growth and survival of herring larvae, about which surprisingly little is known. In particular, he studies otoliths, tiny calcium carbonate deposits in fish heads that add a new growth ring each day, so scientists use them to study how fish develop. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)