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A little learning about some little (but important) fish in Illinois

Clockwise from top left: Bigeye shiner (endangered in Illinois), a group of stonerollers, blackspotted topminnow, starhead topminnow (threatened in Illinois), striped shiner, and brook silverside. Only half of these photos are of fish belonging to the family Leuciscidae: The bigeye shiner, striped shiner, and the stonerollers (which are undergoing their own process of species reclassification, but staying within the family Leuciscidae). (Photos by Dustin Lynch)

Recently, I spent a day showing fourth-grade students the flora and fauna that live in or next to many of Illinois’ lakes. We looked at animal tracks in the mud on the shoreline, counted shells some creature (likely a raccoon) left behind after a nice meal of freshwater mussels, learned the names of the plants growing in the water and practiced identifying turtle species.
Every session started by looking around and calling out the things we saw.

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