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VICKSBURG, Miss -- ERDC Environmental Laboratory (EL) biologists recently assisted Vicksburg District personnel by providing guidance and specimens for a live-fish exhibit at the new Lower Mississippi River Museum and Riverfront Interpretative Site in downtown Vicksburg.
The museum and center features a 1,500 gallon aquarium, which allows visitors to observe river denizens swimming, feeding, and interacting with one another. The tank was stocked by EL’s team of Alan Katzenmeyer, Nicky Hahn and Jan Hoover with both fish collected from the river and fish maintained in the laboratory for ongoing behavioral research. Species provided included paddlefish, gar, suckers, Asian carp, crappie, and white bass.
The biologists also met with aquarists from the Tunica Riverpark and Museum in Tunica, Miss., to discuss the care of paddlefish in a public aquarium at the museum.
Public Aquarists Mike Sutton and Gabriel Valles met with the EL team and received yearling and fingerling paddlefish from the laboratory’s population to add to the displays of Mississippi River life. Laboratory research on paddlefish, conducted by the team is funded by the Military Engineering Basic Research Program.
To learn more about the Vicksburg District’s Lower Mississippi River Museum, visit their Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/LMRMIC.