Fish Surveying in the Thames River

Wet weather has made for a logistically challenging field season for our fish surveying team. The heavy rain has amounted to many days when the river water was too high and cloudy to work safely. Despite the challenging conditions, we have managed to survey a total of 69 sites in the Upper Thames River watershed, so far this year. White Sucker, Central Stoneroller, Rock Bass and Smallmouth Bass are amongst the most commonly observed fish species.

Some other less commonly observed, more sensitive species, such as Northern Sunfish, Black Redhorse, Mottled Sculpin and River Chub have more restricted distributions. Overall, it is good to see that the Thames River continues to support a very rich diversity of fishes. Fish survey field work will continue until late 2024. Eventually, when winter weather arrives, we will spend time analyzing the fish data to assess trends in watershed health.

Often confused with Gobies the, Mottled Sculpin, such as this one from the Avon subwatershed are found in cold water streams.

Get a glimpse at a day on the river: