Fish

Descendants of fish that roamed the seas when dinosaurs ruled the earth, Atlantic sturgeon are in danger of disappearing just like their ancestors. They're the biggest, strangest-looking fish most people have never seen in the Chesapeake Bay, so few are left in these waters. Now, at the urging of an environmental group, the federal government wants to formally classify them as endangered, which triggers stricter legal protection from harm for the remaining sturgeon. But some scientists and state officials worry it could also complicate efforts to restore their numbers.

A powerful stench was in the air Saturday at the Inner Harbor as 12-year-olds Alison Chase and Marissa Westerbeke hunched over the water's edge, studying tiny crabs floating to the surface. The girls were in town from Connecticut for a relaxing annual vacation with Alison's family, but the pervasive smell of dead fish and rotting plant matter — caused by a massive algae bloom — had them totally grossed out. "It's, like, sad and disgusting," said Marissa. "It's gross.

SCIENCE HAS taken on entertainment, and entertainment wins. A Texas firm will soon be offering up pet zebra fish genetically enhanced to glow bright red in the dark. Demand is predicted to be high, even at the sticker-shock price of $5 a head. They should appeal to baby boomers who miss the joy of their Day-Glo posters and kids who have outgrown the glow-in-the-dark star stickers once plastered to their bedroom ceilings. Not to mention the hordes of aquarium lovers, always on the lookout for a unique addition to their aquatic landscapes.

- Christopher Gearhart does not know where he would be without fly fishing. Growing up in this Frederick County town, Gearhart's father left the family when he was a small child. Donald Lewis, the town's mayor, took Gearhart and a few other kids to an annual event on the grounds of Camp Airy run by a group of men who taught boys like Gearhart how to fly fish. "Honestly, my father left us and these gentlemen kept me out of trouble," Gearhart recalled Saturday. "They knew I liked to fish, and they kept me doing it. " Now 40 years old and an insurance executive who lives in nearby Waynesboro, Pa., Gearhart has stayed involved in the organization that taught him so much.

A rmed with an ancient stopwatch and a brand-new hangover that made the glowing numbers on the digital clock seem as piercing as the searchlights at Alcatraz, I picked up the telephone at 4 a.m. New Year's Day and dialed my way into legality. By 4:09, I was a federally registered angler, a process that proved to be less painful than the throbbing inside my brainpan. All it took was remembering who I was, where I lived, when I was born, my phone number and the three states where I hope to fish this year.

- Christopher Gearhart does not know where he would be without fly fishing. Growing up in this Frederick County town, Gearhart's father left the family when he was a small child. Donald Lewis, the town's mayor, took Gearhart and a few other kids to an annual event on the grounds of Camp Airy run by a group of men who taught boys like Gearhart how to fly fish. "Honestly, my father left us and these gentlemen kept me out of trouble," Gearhart recalled Saturday. "They knew I liked to fish, and they kept me doing it. " Now 40 years old and an insurance executive who lives in nearby Waynesboro, Pa., Gearhart has stayed involved in the organization that taught him so much.

On November 21, 2003, AARON FISH, beloved husband of Lillian Fish (nee Katzen), loving father of Sharon Puritz of Balto., Md. Loving father-in-law of Howard Puritz. Devoted brother of the late Abraham Fish. Adored grandfather of Dr. Allan & Kimberly Puritz, Richard Puritz and Melissa Kurland. Great-grandfather of Madison and Ashley Puritz. Services at SOL LEVINSON & BROS, INC., 8900 Reisterstown Road at Mount Wilson Lane on Sunday, November 23, at 12 noon. Interment Beth El Memorial Park, Randallstown.

The locations Piney Run: Jim Gronaw, park assistant, recommends top-water lures around grass beds. Buzzbaits, spinnerbaits and hard-body lures work best early and late in the day. Fish soft plastic lures in the deeper areas around the grass beds. Prettyboy Reservoir: Duke Nohe of the Maryland Aquatic Resource Coalition says plastic worms are always a good bet on this fishery. Fish are holding 15 to 25 feet deep. Largemouth and smallmouth bass can be caught on pig and jigs, live crawfish and shiners.

LANDLOCKED Switzerland, the home of yodeling, cheese and watches, is not known for aquatic life. That's why artists there started erecting painted fiberglass cows in public places a few years back. They unleashed a worldwide craze. Chicago artists wanted to do cow sculptures, too. Cincinnati followed with pigs, Miami with flamingos, Boston with cod, Orlando with lizards. And so on, until 183 whimsical fish surfaced around Baltimore's downtown last spring. Those zany fantasy figures quickly captured the imagination of Baltimoreans.

Some scientists do their work using test tubes; others need 600-gallon, climate-controlled tanks filled with 3-foot-long fish.Such is the case with researchers from the Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB) and the National Aquarium, who are sharing the recently opened Aquaculture Research Center in Baltimore.While the aquarium plans to begin a breeding program for ornamental tropical fish, COMB researchers are conducting research they hope will help Maryland's budding aquaculture industry grow fish for sale in restaurants.

The algae blooms fouling Baltimore area waters apparently have claimed more victims, as more dead fish have been spotted floating in the Inner Harbor and washing ashore at Fort McHenry just south of downtown. Investigators with the Maryland Department of the Environment , who saw upwards of 100,00 dead fish in creeks south of the city Wednesday and hundreds more in Dundalk, confirmed the Inner Harbor die-off today. MDE spokesman Jay Apperson said the harbor's mahogany colored water fit the same recipe for a fish kill.  He offered no estimate of how many dead fish there were, noting that the city's trash-skimming boats were scooping them up, "but as soon as they go by, there's more.

Something's rotten on the Baltimore area waterfront. Fish are washing ashore by the thousands in a mass die-off that officials say appears to be caused by a weather-driven worsening of the pollution that chronically plagues the Chesapeake Bay. State investigators expanded their probe Wednesday into what they believe are algae-related fish kills in Marley, Furnace and Curtis creeks in Glen Burnie, raising the estimated death toll there tenfold, while...

State officials are investigating what killed thousands of fish in Marley and Furnace creeks in northern Anne Arundel County, but suspect they suffocated after an algae bloom sucked the oxygen out of the water, a Maryland Department of the Environment spokesman said Tuesday. Investigators saw an estimated 6,000 dead and apparently dying fish Monday, mostly in Marley Creek but some as well in adjoining Furnace Creek, said MDE spokesman Jay Apperson. There were at least nine different species of fish involved, including Atlantic menhaden, silversides, silvery minnows and sunfish, he said.

The Hereford Optimist Club will once again host "Kids All-American Fishing Derby" on May 26 at the ponds at Friendly Farm Restaurant in Upperco. Kids can fish from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. in waters that are only open for public fishing once a year. Children in middle school or younger are eligible to fish. There will be prizes in various age groups for largest fish and most number of fish caught. Door prizes will also be given out. Children must be accompanied by an adult and provide their own fishing equipment and bait.

In a bit of good news for Maryland anglers, the federal government has declared the mid-Atlantic stock of summer flounder fully rebuilt after years of catch restrictions meant to curb overfishing. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries service reported to Congress Monday that a record six fish populations nationwide had been rebuilt last year to healthy levels.  Summer flounder is the only one in the mid-Atlantic. With those additions, the number of marine fish populations rebuilt in the past 11 years has grown to 27, NOAA said.

They departed the northwest coast of France two months ago — 26 crew members each aboard two historic French Navy schooners headed to North America. With relatively calm seas, a chef well-versed in French cuisine and plenty of technological updates to the World War II-era ships, the boats made an easy voyage to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. On Sunday, the public got the chance to tour them. The schooners made the journey as part of the bicentennial of the War of 1812.

Sight words are words your child recognizes readily without analysis. Sight word games should be geared to self-improvement rather than deciding a winner. Words can be chosen from papers your child brings home, word lists provided by the teacher or favorite books. Place these words on index cards and develop a file of sight vocabulary to use and review.For variety, try a game using words from "Make Way for Ducklings." Draw fish shapes on cardboard or index cards. Cut them out and write a word from the list on each fish.

Many of us grew up in the Friday night is Fish Night tradition. At our house on the North Shore of Boston, Fish Night could include cod fish cakes, creamed salmon on toast (aka Salmon Wiggle) or, most often, simply fried fish fillets. Not batter involved. Just a dunk in some sunny yellow cornmeal and a saute (in lard and later, vegetable shortening) in the skillet. Mashed potatoes and canned vegetables usually went with. The Friday Fish Night tradition continues, although there really is no longer a reason for it. And cornmeal-fried (in vegetable oil)

If we're serious about getting the invasive snakeheads under control before they eat all the other fish in the Chesapeake watershed, then let me suggest that we get serious about the bounty. Those $200 gift certificates from a major outdoors retailer are nice, but there are only three of them, and those who catch a snakehead have to enter a drawing to win them, and the drawing isn't until November. That's not much of an incentive. Let's engage in some bigger thinking about this.