Hot Fish Sex: Undergrads Describe Piscine Behavior, Reproduction
Now that we have your attention, let’s talk about fish. With a risqué come-on and free refreshments, students in Phaedra Budy’s Watershed Sciences 3100 Fish Diversity and Conservation class hosted a welcoming poster session designed to engage and inform guests, while providing students with a forum to hone their presentation skills.
Co-sponsored by the Stokes Nature Center, “Hot Fish Sex” attracted curious visitors to the Natural Resources building atrium Nov. 12, with such student-inspired presentations as “Parenting Gone Wild” (mouth brooding and male pregnancy), “How Far Would You Go for Love?” (fish migration), “Dude Looks Like a Lady” (asexual reproduction), “Do You Know Who Your Fish are Sleeping With?” (fish mating systems) and “How Often Do You Get Some?” (fish breeding opportunities).
“I suspected these students would like a racy topic, and I wanted them to be truly interested in their selected subjects,” says Budy, associate professor in the College of Natural Resources’ Department of Watershed Sciences. “I chose fish sex because fishes demonstrate some of the greatest diversity and most interesting reproductive tactics within the animal kingdom.”
Among the bellwethers of climate change and overall ecosystem health, fish, and how they adapt to their environment, offer a significant glimpse of the impacts of rising temperatures and landscape changes.
“I’m impressed with the student presenters’ ability to compare fish life history strategies among kinds of fishes and also among different habitats,” says Chris Luecke, professor and WATS department head. “Using a comparative approach, the students determined that habitat characteristics caused certain life history strategies to succeed and resulted in the evolution of similar lifestyles in different groups of fishes.”
Presenter Michelle Denton, an elementary education major, says she looks forward to incorporating topics she’s learned in the class into science projects for her young students.
“I’ve particularly enjoyed learning about deep sea species, such as the anglerfish and the plainfin midshipman,” she says.
Creating posters and presenting them to the public requires students to thoroughly research their topics, organize their thoughts and discuss their ideas with peers, Luecke says.
“Presenting what you’ve studied is a valuable experience for students,” he says. “It was great to see these students having fun with a humorous format, while thinking and learning about adaptation, evolution and diversity.”
Poster session guests came away with enlightened knowledge about fish, including a fresh perspective on Disney’s popular 2003 film “Finding Nemo.” Student presenters pointed out that the animated adventure contains a few inaccuracies about the stranger-than-fiction lives of clownfish: In real life, Nemo’s father Marlin would have changed into Nemo’s mother (following her untimely death from a predator attack), taken over the anemone household and Nemo’s oldest brother would have changed into the family’s father.
Related Links:
USU Department of Watershed Sciences
USU College of Natural Resources
Stokes Nature Center
Contact: Phaedra Budy, 435-797-7564
Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto, 435-797-3517
Co-sponsored by the Stokes Nature Center, “Hot Fish Sex” attracted curious visitors to the Natural Resources building atrium Nov. 12, with such student-inspired presentations as “Parenting Gone Wild” (mouth brooding and male pregnancy), “How Far Would You Go for Love?” (fish migration), “Dude Looks Like a Lady” (asexual reproduction), “Do You Know Who Your Fish are Sleeping With?” (fish mating systems) and “How Often Do You Get Some?” (fish breeding opportunities).
“I suspected these students would like a racy topic, and I wanted them to be truly interested in their selected subjects,” says Budy, associate professor in the College of Natural Resources’ Department of Watershed Sciences. “I chose fish sex because fishes demonstrate some of the greatest diversity and most interesting reproductive tactics within the animal kingdom.”
Among the bellwethers of climate change and overall ecosystem health, fish, and how they adapt to their environment, offer a significant glimpse of the impacts of rising temperatures and landscape changes.
“I’m impressed with the student presenters’ ability to compare fish life history strategies among kinds of fishes and also among different habitats,” says Chris Luecke, professor and WATS department head. “Using a comparative approach, the students determined that habitat characteristics caused certain life history strategies to succeed and resulted in the evolution of similar lifestyles in different groups of fishes.”
Presenter Michelle Denton, an elementary education major, says she looks forward to incorporating topics she’s learned in the class into science projects for her young students.
“I’ve particularly enjoyed learning about deep sea species, such as the anglerfish and the plainfin midshipman,” she says.
Creating posters and presenting them to the public requires students to thoroughly research their topics, organize their thoughts and discuss their ideas with peers, Luecke says.
“Presenting what you’ve studied is a valuable experience for students,” he says. “It was great to see these students having fun with a humorous format, while thinking and learning about adaptation, evolution and diversity.”
Poster session guests came away with enlightened knowledge about fish, including a fresh perspective on Disney’s popular 2003 film “Finding Nemo.” Student presenters pointed out that the animated adventure contains a few inaccuracies about the stranger-than-fiction lives of clownfish: In real life, Nemo’s father Marlin would have changed into Nemo’s mother (following her untimely death from a predator attack), taken over the anemone household and Nemo’s oldest brother would have changed into the family’s father.
Related Links:
USU Department of Watershed Sciences
USU College of Natural Resources
Stokes Nature Center
Contact: Phaedra Budy, 435-797-7564
Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto, 435-797-3517
Devin Christensen and Erin Fleming describe their poster, 'Fish Foreplay.' Fleming, a Quinney Scholar, will present her research linking brine shrimp with mercury levels in Great Salt Lake at Undergraduate Research Day on Capitol Hill Jan. 28.
Undergrad Wai Leung Chui , left, discusses fish migration with his poster 'How Far Would You Go for Love?' with teaching assistant Christy Meredith.
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