Friday, May 4, 2012

Taking Advantage of a Lunch Break

Not all of us have the luxury of leaving our work site to take a lunch break.  Today, I did and decided to take a quick adventure.  My husband and I ventured down to Winton, a small town near Ely, to watch the spawning white sucker fish in the Shagawa River.  If you watch closely you will see a redhorse sucker (redish colored fins) mixed in with the group in the video below.
white sucker fish


redhorse sucker fish


Suckers will spawn in spring in shallow water like under this bridge.  The females, larger in size, in this video swim sideways and backward down the river as they release the eggs.  The males, smaller in size and with stripes, "herd" the female, or cluster near her, and fertilize the eggs as they are released.  From up above it looks like a pile of fish.  Enjoy!



Learn more by visiting:
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fish/whitesucker.html