Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Search this
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YouTube Videos
Uploaded:
2016-06-07T15:15:15.000Z
Views:
918
Video Title:
Electrofishing: Explore Smithsonian
Description:
How can electricity help scientists study fish? Blue catfish are an invasive species in Chesapeake Bay, in part due to their voracious appetites that disrupt the food web. In some areas of the Bay, invasive catfish can take up 75 percent of the total biomass. But tracking their numbers can be tough, as the Chesapeake's waters are notoriously murky. So marine biologists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) use a less conventional way to catch them: zap the waters with electricity. Electrofishing doesn't harm or kill the catfish--it only temporarily stuns them so they float to the surface. SERC marine biologist Rob Aguilar took TV host Josh Bernstein out on the Patuxent River in Maryland to show him how it's done.