Fish

Rainbow Trout Subspecies Newly Named

The McCloud River redband trout, or O. mykiss calisulat, is newly identified as its own distinct subspecies of rainbow trout in a study from the University of California, Davis. It is the first newly identified subspecies of Pacific trout since 2008 and the youngest rainbow trout subspecies by more than 100 years.

Levi Lewis: The Value of ‘And’

Levi Lewis, one of Peter Moyle’s many former undergraduate students, now runs the Otolith Geochemistry and Fish Ecology Laboratory at UC Davis. His previous research has taken him to wetlands, seagrass beds and coral reefs around the world. He’s currently studying Delta smelt and longfin smelt — two critically endangered fishes in San Francisco Bay. We talked about climate anxiety, privilege and the value of science, empathy and staying the course. 

Peter Moyle: Fish by Fish, Bird by Bird

Peter Moyle is widely considered the “godfather of California fish biology.” The UC Davis professor emeritus has been conducting native fish surveys here for more than 50 years. He also played a major role in restoring Yolo County’s beloved local stream, Putah Creek.

Cultural Biases Impact Native Fish, Too

From art to religion to land use, much of what is deemed valuable in the United States was shaped centuries ago by the white male perspective. Fish, it turns out, are no exception.

A study published in Fisheries Magazine, a journal of the American Fisheries Society, explores how colonialist attitudes toward native fishes were rooted in elements of racism and sexism. It describes how those attitudes continue to shape fisheries management today, often to the detriment of native fishes.

A Fixed-Effort Fishery More Sustainable for Economy and Environment

Study Considers Food Web, Extinction Cascades and Human Dynamics

For a truly sustainable fishery, more needs to be considered than just the abundance of the harvested species. Harvesting even abundant species can create indirect extinction cascades down the food web that can harm the long-term economic and ecological sustainability of a fishery. 

That is according to a study from the University of California, Davis, published today in the journal Science Advances. 

CRISPR a Tool for Conservation, Not Just Gene Editing

Scientists Use CRISPR to Rapidly Identify Endangered Delta Smelt and Its Look-Alikes

The gene-editing technology CRISPR has been used for a variety of agricultural and public health purposes — from growing disease-resistant crops to, more recently, a diagnostic test for the virus that causes COVID-19.

CABA personnel keeping an eye on fish

In a remote section of campus west of Highway 113, Matthew Stone and a few students are looking after the well-being of thousands of fish at the UC Davis Center for Aquatic Biology and Aquaculture. Stone is the assistant facilities manager at CABA.

“We have quite a large number of fish that we’re trying to take care of and they all have different needs that we need to address,” he said. “These are things we simply cannot skip over during a time like this.”

Closing the loop on sustainable aquaculture

Inside the world’s first caviar farm that uses fish waste to grow vegetables

On a farm just outside of Sacramento, hundreds of prehistoric-looking fish swim around in 50-foot diameter tanks. These are white sturgeon, the largest freshwater fish in North America. They’ve been around since dinosaurs, can grow more than 7 feet long and lay hundreds of thousands of eggs at a time. The roe of these sturgeon are harvested for a boutique food producer regally named Tsar Nicoulai Caviar.