Neosho National Fish Hatchery

Today we spawned the two captive brood Pallid Sturgeon females we've been holding. The process involves squeezing the ripe eggs out of the fish, fertilizing them with milt from one of the males, stirring them in a clay solution to keep the eggs from sticking together, and then rolling them in a McDonald egg jar to keep them oxygenated until hatching. In total we produced 73 thousand eggs today. Photo Caption 1: An image of a hand squeezing the belly of a Pallid Sturgeon be...ing held over a red bowl which is catching eggs that are released. Photo Caption 2: An image of Pallid Sturgeon eggs being stirred in a clay solution with a turkey feather. Photo Caption 3: An image of grey Pallid Sturgeon eggs rolling in an egg jar. USFWS Photos

We have some juvenile Western Fanshell mussels dropping off of their host logperch in the lab right now. The little grey thing that looks kinda like Pacman is a juvenile mussel. The scale bar in the image is 1mm from the 5 to the 10. This baby is roughly 1/5 of that or 200 microns. Photo Caption 1: An image of a juvenile mussel crawling in a petri dish with a horizontal scale bar and three visible air bubbles. USFWS Photo

It is Pallid Sturgeon spawning time. The Pallid Sturgeon requires an injection to stimulate ovulation in captivity. Our females received those today and we should be spawning ripe fish tomorrow. Stay tuned. Photo Caption: An image of an adult Pallid Sturgeon held in a large dip net. USFWS Photo

Our Spring series of wildlife babies continues. I found this nest of bunnies in my wifes' flower garden. Hopefully they all survive. Photo Caption 1: An image of a flower garden with some gray fur visible near the base of one of the plants. Photo Caption 2: An image of several young rabbits inside a nest.... USFWS Photos

When we get heavy rains the springs are stirred up and the water can turn a shade of brown. Can you tell a difference between these two pond? One is being held static with no flow-through and the other has spring water currently moving through it. Photo Caption: An overhead image of two ponds. One is a shade of blue while the other is a shade of brown. USFWS Photo

Yesterday I posted a video of toads jumping along the edge of Pond 20. While I can't get them all out of there, with the help of a few pieces of screen material I can make a difference for some of them. Photo Caption 1: An image of a piece of perforated aluminum screen, with several young frogs, leaned up against a rock pond wall. USFWS Photo

After the Luna Moth a few days ago I came across this Polyphemus Moth between rain showers yesterday. Such a big and beautiful moth. Photo Caption: An image of a large brown polyphemus moth with black eye spots on its' wings. USFWS Photo

Here's a North American Least Shrew. It was pretty fast so the images aren't fantastic. Photo Caption 1: An image of a North American Least Shrew walking on the curb along a yard. Photo Caption 2: A broad side image of a North American Least Shrew walking along the edge of a road.... USFWS Photos

It's that time of year again! We saw our first Luna Moth of the year at the hatchery yesterday. Their caterpillars feed on sweetgum leaves, so if you have a sweetgum tree be on the lookout for them. Photo Caption: An image of a bright green moth hanging from the edge of a garage door. USFWS Photo

We are rearing a small batch of Lake Sturgeon this year. Many thanks to Genoa National Fish Hatchery (Genoa National Fish Hatchery and Great River Road Interpretive Center ) for shipping us eggs to hatch out. They have hatched, and aren't much to look at yet. Stay tuned and we'll post pictures as they get bigger. Photo Caption 1: An image of a McDonald egg jar with a small amount of black sturgeon eggs in the bottom. Photo Caption 2: In image of several lake sturgeon fry... swimming around a circular tank. USFWS Photos

Our Hatchery Manager Roderick May will tell you the manager is always on duty....... This weekend I was at a baseball tournament and a swarm of bees settled on the backstop. A local beekeeper was called to remove them and none other than Dan Mosier, one of our good friends and the manager of the Farlington State Fish Hatchery (Kansas Wildlife, Parks & Tourism - Fisheries Division) showed up. We enjoy a good working relationship with Dan and the rest of the staff at the Farlington Hatchery and look forward to working with them on fish and mussel projects as the year progresses.

Check out the Spring edition of Fish and Wildlife Service News. Among several other great articles you'll find one about Neosho NFH on Page 14. https://www.fws.gov//fwn/pdf/Spring%20News%20%2721_final2.