A Foray into the Fascinating Forage Fishes of the Salish Sea

Join Emily Bjornsgard (MS student, Olson Lab, Western Washington University) on an exploration of the often overlooked early lives of marine
About this Event

Forage fish are sometimes described as “little silver baitfish”, and are crucial links in a thriving ecosystem as they consume microscopic plankton, transferringbiomass to macroscopic predators. Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasii) and Surf Smelt (Hypomesus pretiosus) are two common local forage fish species important not only ecologically, but also are valued by indigenous communities, as well as the recreational and commercial fishing industries. Investigations into their larval development have traditionally been difficult due to high mortality in laboratory studies. The Olson Lab at Western Washington University has been developing methods to rear these fish successfully through their first 10 days-post-hatch, in order to better understand these species’ development and to further examine the impacts of environmental factors on the early lives of forage fishes.

One such factor that the Olson lab is exploring is the impact of diatom-produced polyunsaturated aldehydes (or PUAs) on embryonic (pre-hatch) forage fish. These PUAs negatively impact the development of invertebrate larvae, and previous work in the Olson lab has determined that embryonic Surf Smelt are negatively impacted by ambient PUA exposure. Current WWU masters student Emily Bjornsgard is investigating the long-term effects of embryonic PUA exposure on larval surf smelt feeding efficiency and survival. This work can determine whether some of the year-to-year variability observed in Surf Smelt populations may be due to PUA-related developmental delays or mortality.

Join Emily on a fascinating foray into forage fishes of the Salish Sea! Learn about these unsung heroes of the marine food web, explore new perspectives in diatom-forage fish interactions, and dive into exciting new research.