Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- America's national fish
dlmcneely at lunet.edu
Date: Wed Sep 08 2004 - 16:26:44 CDT
Getting a state or national animal or plant designated is mainly a matter of who takes the initiative. Oklahoma has a rather mealy-mouth state fish, the white bass, because a group of fishermen and resort owners on a reservoir, Lake Texhoma, took the trouble to get it designated. But we have a wonderful state lizard, the collared lizard, or as known in Oklahoma, Mountain Boomer.
Texas has a great state fish, the Guadalupe Bass (_Micropterus treculi_) because several ichthyologists did the legwork to get the designation. If we propose a national fish, present a reasonable resolution to a few politicos, we can probably get it done. And it will almost certainly be the fish we recommend, because there will be little or no concern with the matter by anyone other than us and the politicos we contact. What say we actually do it? We can put together a really nice resolution, with commentary about the importance of native fishes to the economy, the importance of water quality to the native fishes, and so on. It will work.
And I almost don't care what fish, but it would be nice if lots of people could have a stake, nationally. Why not the generic approach? If the national fish was "the shiner" or "the darter" or even "the minnow," with appropriate justification for including a whole group like that, it would work.
Let's do it. Dave Mc
David L. McNeely, Ph.D., Professor of Biology
Langston University; P.O. Box 1500
Langston, OK 73050; email: dlmcneely at lunet.edu
telephone: (405) 466-6025; fax: 405) 466-3307
home page http://www.lunet.edu/mcneely
"Where are we going?" "I don't know, are we there yet?"
----- Original Message -----
From: Traci Greve <rnbwdarter at yahoo.com>
Date: Wednesday, September 8, 2004 3:59 pm
Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- America's national fish
>
> I'll have to throw in my vote for the Northern Hogsucker, you just
> gotta love those lips! I'd also like to see America's National
> fish be something that requires a certain level of water quality.
> A rainbow darter would also be a nice choice as they are quite
> beautiful.
> I think everyone has their favorite fish, especially with us.
> However, I agree with Ty that it would probably end up with more
> well known fish like the Largemouth bass.
>
> Traci
>
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: Fri Dec 31 2004 - 11:27:15 CST