Lake Erie: Life Under Water

Vermilion River Ohio: Under the Surface

Take an Underwater Tour of the Huron River, Lake Erie Basin, Ohio

Learn about Dr. Alford's Lake Sturgeon Restoration Efforts in the Tennessee River

Dr. Alford takes a Stream Ecology college class into the field to learn about the importance of riparian buffers to stream ecosytems

Dr. Alford's Underwater Footage of Stream Fishes in Tennessee

Photos from Afield

REU student Emme Amy euthanizes and preserves invasive Round Gobies and native Common Logperch to study their diet overlap and prey selection strategies from the Portage River, Ohio.	Stomach and intestine removed from a Common Logperch captured in Lake Erie.
Prey items from a Lake Erie logperch. These are almost entirely larval chironomids, a major component of logperch diets in Lake Erie.	REU student Emme Amy holds a Channel Catfish captured by seine in the Sandusky River, Ohio.
REU student Emme Amy hauls in a seine sample from Lake Erie on South Bass Island, Ohio. Her research was on dietary competition between native Common Logperch and invasive Round Goby.	REU student Emme Amy, an undergrad from Dayton University, spent 8 weeks conducting fish ecology research at Stone Lab in summer 2024. Here, she is learning the character-building process of mounting and identifying chironomid larvae from fish stomachs and the lake.
A larval chironomid called Polypedilum flavum from the stomach of a Round Goby captured in the Portage River, Ohio. Like with logperch, Gobies love to eat chironomid larvae, which are insects in teh non-biting midge family of true flies. They live on the bottom of freshwater systems, eating bacteria, fungi, and algae.	Prey items from a Round Goby sampled from Lake Erie. Most of the items are chironomids larvae, but you can see the Zebra Mussel, and there is a caddisfly larva in the Hydropsychidae family of net-spinning caddisflies.
An adult chironomid from Gibraltar Island on Lake Erie. These non-biting midges in the true fly order of insects spend most of their life underwater as larvae and pupae, emerging as terrestrial winged adults to mate, lay eggs in the water, and die.	A larval chironomid called Glyptotendipes from a Common Logperch stomach sampled in the Portage River, Ohio.
Graduate student Grant Fisher measures substrate sizes with ecological engineer Dr. John Schwartz as part of a collaborative research to see if restored urban streams provide functional lift to the aquatic ecosystem.	Measuring geomorphology of streams to see if restoring banks and stream beds improve fish and aquatic invertebrate functional traits in urban stream ecosystems.
Endangered Laurel Dace (Chrosomus saylori) from Shawna Mitchell's field research summer 2019.	Field work selfie while "helping" Shawna Mitchell sample Laurel Dace for her thesis research.
Shawna Mitchell checks a water temperature logger in a Laurel Dace stream.
Lots of fun with TN Aquarium Conservation Institute partners removing invasive Green Sunfish from a creek that used to support endangered Laurel Dace.	The very rare Sequatchie Caddisfly (Glyphospyche sequatchie). It only lives in a coupe cold cave springs outside of Chattanooga.
Working with federal and state partners to monitor the rare Sequatchie Caddisfly.	Villosa iris from the Hiwassee River.
Pleurobema oviforme getting ready to be tagged and stocked into Citico Creek where it was once known to occur but was likely extirpated.	Pleurobema oviforme (Tennessee Clubshell) filtering food in the Hiwassee River.
Pleurobema oviforme with a glued on external Hallprint tag so we can track survival and growth in Citico Creek where it will be stocked.	Gerry Dinkins from the McClung Museum carefully places an Epioblasma aureola (Tan Riffleshell) into Citico Creek. These were reared at the Virginia state mussel hatchery. The species was only recently discovered to exist in Citico Creek after finding a misidentified shell from the creek in the North Carolina museum in Raleigh.
Gerry Dinkins stocks Epioblasma aureola into Citico Creek. The first time they've been back in over 70 years.	PIT tagged and external numbered tags placed on juvenile Epioblasma aureola reared at the Virginia state mussel hatchery and ready to be repatriated into Citico Creek, where they once existed but are now extirpated.
Big Rock Creek, tributary to the Duck River in Marshall Co., Tennessee, where in May 2018, grad student Kristin Irwin is assessing density and recruitment of mussels	Kristin Irwin conducts a quantitative mussel sample in Big Rock Creek to estimate density and recruitment of mussels.
Gerry Dinkins and Kristin Irwin counting mussels found in randomly selected quadrats along a transect line in Big Rock Creek.	Can you spot the darter, a potential mussel glochidia host, spying on the mussel?
Villosa taeniata (Top: aka, Painted Creekshell) and Villosa vanuxemensis (Bottom: aka, Mountain Creekshell) from Big Rock Creek, Marshall Co., TN.	A juvenile Pleuronaia barnesiana (Tennessee Pigtoe) from Big Rock Creek.
A shell from a Villosa taeniata in Big Rock Creek.	Can you see the darter at the top left eyeing the Villosa vanuxemensis at the bottom right?
Villosa taeniata from Big Rock Creek attempts to burrow back in its habitat after being measured.	Keith Garner, Justin Wolbert, and UT Students prepare Mountain Madtoms, Bluebreast Darters, and River Chubs for translocation stocking to the Pigeon River from the French Broad River in May 2018
Holding buckets supplying fresh cool water for fishes waiting to be translocated to the Pigeon River from the French Broad	Snail Darter (Percina tanasi) from the French Broad River near Knoxville, May 7, 2018
Mountain Madtoms from the French Broad about to be translocated to the Pigeon River for recovery of its native fauna	Bluebreast Darter (Nothonotus camurus) about to be moved to the Pigeon River
Banded Darter (Etheostoma zonale)	A hot male Snubnose Darter (Etheostoma simoterum) from the French Broad River May 7, 2018
A strikingly beautiful Redline Darter (Nothonotus rufilineatus) from the French Broad River May 7, 2018.	Fisheries Techniques students sampling mussels in the Nolichucky River in 2017
Fisheries Techniques students learning to sample fish like this Flathead Catfish from Ft. Loudoun reservoir using gill nets and hoop nets.	Quantitative sampling for mussels by the Fisheries Techniques class in 2017
The Spiny River Snail (Io fluvialis) which has been restored to the Nolichucky River.	Lampsilis ovata, the Pocketbook, from the Harpeth River
Simpsonaias ambigua (Salamander mussel) discovered by Kristin Irwin's research from the Harpeth River. This is the first record of this species from the Cumberland River system.	Kristin Irwin recording species composition and size distribution of mussels from the Harpeth River.
Kristin Irwin paddles happily down the Harpeth River while conducting research for her masters thesis.	Meredith poses with a recaptured Lake Sturgeon from Watts Bar Reservoir in November 2016.
Awkward family photo with Justin, Brian, and Meredith.	Keith shows off a 12 year old Lake Sturgeon from November 2016.
Meredith and Justin get a fin clip from a Lake Sturgeon for genetics analysis	A nice Blue Catfish from Watts bar Reservoir.
Trot line sampling for Lake Sturgeon during Fisheries Techniques class	Keith Garner instructs Fisheries Techniques students how to insert a PIT tag into a Lake Sturgeon.
Gerry Dinkins and Chuck Howard teach Fisheries Techniques students how to conduct quantitative sampling for mussels.	Just doing a little mussel research in Fisheries Techniques class.
Semi-quantitative kick net sample for aquatic insects during Fisheries Techniques class	Pickin' and grinnin' for aquatic insects during Fisheries Techniques class.
Sickle Darter (Percina williamsi) from Little River. Photo by Justin Wolbert	Sickle Darter from Little River. Photo by Justin Wolbert
Meredith Hayes, Justin Wolbert, and undergraduate student Corey Chapman spy a Sickle Darter in Little River.	Sickle Darter from Little River. Photo by Justin Wolbert.
Sickle Darter (Percina williamsi)	A Sickle Darter says "Hi" from it's woody home in a east Tennessee creek.
The elusive and rare Ashy Darter (Etheostoma cinereum) sampled from Little River in 2016.	in 2016, a Gilt Darter (Percina evides) is observed during annual snorkel monitoring of the Pigeon River.
Joyce Coombs paddles down the Pigeon River to monitor the success fish and mollusk reintroductions.	in 2015, Ph.D. student Dan Walker uses side scan sonar to map the bottom of the Chickamauga dam tailwater (Tennessee River) where it is believed that reintroduced Lake Sturgeon will spawn.
Dr. Dave Etnier pays tribute to the late Dr. Herbert Boschung at the annual "Passing of the Bird" ceremony at the Southeastern Fishes Council meeting.	Dr. Dave Etnier imparts his knowledge onto Dr. Alford who eagerly listens. Photo by Amy Wales.
Dept. of Forestry, Wildlife, & Fisheries football tailgate with students and faculty. Go Vols!	Perlid stonefly nymphs from the Nolichucky River
Snorkel view of a Smallmouth Bass in a Cumberland Plateau creek	A Longear Sunfish (Lepomis megalotis)reflects on its existence in a Cumberland Plateau creek.
Tangerine Darter from a snorkel view in a Cumberland Plateau creek.	French Broad River near Knoxville with Justichia (Water Willow) blooming.
Mountain Madtom (Noturus eleutherus) from the French Broad River. It was translocated to the Pigeon River as part of its restoration from pollution.	Justin Wolbert adds oxygen to a cooler of river water prepare Mountain Madtoms and Bluebreast Darters from the French Broad River for their journey to the Pigeon River for restoration of its native fauna.
A "hot" male Central Stoneroller (Campostoma anomalum) from the Nolichucky River drainage.	Sharphead Darter (Nothonotus acuticeps) from the Nolichucky River. Photo by Todd Amacker.
Warpaint Shiner (Luxilus coccogenis) from the Nolichucky River. Photo by Todd Amacker.	The annual crawfish boil with the UT Wildlife and Fisheries Society students. Ayeeeee!
Crawfish flown in live from Lafayette, LA to Knoxville, TN.	Crawfish and all the fixins' at the Alford-Willcox lab annual boil.
The annual Alford-Willcox lab crawfish boil.	Male Swannenoa Darter (Etheostoma swannenoa) ready to be introduced to the Pigeon River in North Carolina to restore the native fish fauna in that system.
Male Blueside Darter (Etheostoma jessiae) showing off his colors for the ladies.	Gilt Darter (Percina evides) being stocked into the Pigeon River to restore it to its healthy condition prior to paper mill pollution.
Northern Studfish (Fundulus catenatus)	Blotchside Logperch (Percina burtoni)
Tangerine Darter (Percina aurantiaca)	Bluebreast Darter from Nolichucky River.
Sharphead Darter (Nothonotus acuticeps) from the Nolichucky River.	Dan Walker and Keith Garner check to see if a Lake Sturgeon has a pit tag to monitor movement, growth, and survival of the reintroduced Tennessee River population.
Keith and Justin sample Lake Sturgeon from trot-lines set overnight in Ft. Loudoun Reservoir as part of the annual monitoring of the reintroduced population.	Ed Scott, retired TVA biologist, conducts outreach during the 2014 SturgeonFest, where thousands of juvenile Lake Sturgeon were stocked into the French Broad River.
Keith helps UT Ecology and Management of Fishes students haul in this Freshwater Drum (Aplodinodus grunniens) from Melton Hill Lake.	Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens) sampled by Ecology and Management of Fishes students for a stock assessment exercise.
UT Ecology and Management of Fishes students sample Redear Sunfish (Lepomis microlophis) for a stock assessment exercise.	Crappie (Pomoxis spp.) sampled for a stock assessment exercise in Ecology and Management of Fishes class.
UT students in Stream Ecology class learn how to sample and ID aquatic insects in the Nolichucky River.	Mayfly (Ephemeroptera) nymphs from the Nolichucky River.
Caddisfly (Trichoptera) larvae from the Nolichucky River.	UT Fisheries Techniques students learn how to sample mussels (Unionidae) from the Holston River.
Keith helps Kit Warren (Vet School student) process Smallmouth Bass livers and testes for a study on endocrine disruption.	Kit Warren (UT Vet School Center of Excellence student) processes Smallmouth Bass (M. dolomieu) livers for a study on intersex condition in east TN rivers.
UT Stream Ecology students backpack electroshock fishes in a mountain stream in the Cherokee National Forest.	Justin Wolbert samples Smallmouth Bass by angling in the Pigeon River for a study on intersex condition.
Fishing for Smallmouth Bass for a study on endocrine disruption.	UT Wildlife & Fisheries Society students seine a pond for the annual wild game dinner.
Sampling fish assemblages in the Nolichucky River.	Caddisfly larva from Little River, aka trout bait
Pickin' & Grinnin' for benthic invertebrates in the Nolichucky River drainage.	Redline Darter from the French Broad River near Knoxville.
A weird Bluebreast Darter from the Nolichucky River.	Redline Darters
The end of the Buffalo run (Ictiobus spp.) in Citico Creek, Cherokee Nat. Forest.	Tanback Crayfish from the Nolichucky River,
Fungi on Little River	UT Fisheries Techniques students (WFS 442) learn to backpack electroshock and seine for fishes in Little River.
Alford lab enjoying the Vols win against South Carolina in 2015.	UT Fisheries Techniques students learn how to tag fish.
Joyce Coombs and Hayley Gotwald teach Briceville Elementary students about healthy aquatic ecosystems for Coal Creek Health Day	Alford lab and TVA biologists teach Briceville Elementary students about healthy streams and fish in Coal Creek.
Joyce Coombs leads UT students in translocating Mountain Madtoms (Noturus eleutherus) and Bluebreast Darters (Nothonotus camurus) from the French Broad River to the Pigeon River (a trib. of the French Broad).	A scene from Cherokee National Forest.
Snubnose darters (Etheostoma simoterum) that were collected from all over the Southeast to investigate their cranial canals.	Keith Garner inserts a pit tag into a Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) in the summer of 2015.
A Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) from Fort Loudoun Reservoir.	Brian from US Fish & Wildlife assisting Todd Amacker with a gastric lavage technique on a Lake Sturgeon.
Wildlife & Fisheries students snorkel for aquatic species during fall camp 2015.	A collection of prey items available for Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) in the Upper Tennessee River Basin.
Gerry Dinkins, curator of malacology at UT's McClung Museum of Natural History, lectures on mussel morphology during fall camp.	Gerry Dinkins, Curator of the Parmalee Malacology Collection at the UT McClung Museum, teaches UT students about morphology and extinction of mussels in the Holston River.
An undergraduate poses with a Logperch (Percina caproides) in the French Broad River.	A Lake Sturgeon poses for a photo on Fort Loudoun Reservoir. These large, ancient fish have proliferated since the age of the dinosaurs but are facing several challenges in the American Southeast.
The University of Tennessee’s Student Wildlife and Fisheries Society won first place overall at the 2015 Southeastern Wildlife Conclave.	Wildlife and Fisheries students identify aquatic insects from the Nolichucky River.
Walker and Amacker getting diet data from a Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens).	UT students record data for a stock assessment of sport fisheries in Cove Lake State Park. This lab exercise is a semester-long research project in WFS 452/552 (Ecology and Management of Fishes).
Wildlife & Fisheries students sample non-game fish in the French Broad River.

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Lake Erie: Life Under Water

Vermilion River Ohio: Under the Surface

Take an Underwater Tour of the Huron River, Lake Erie Basin, Ohio

Learn about Dr. Alford's Lake Sturgeon Restoration Efforts in the Tennessee River

Dr. Alford takes a Stream Ecology college class into the field to learn about the importance of riparian buffers to stream ecosytems

Dr. Alford's Underwater Footage of Stream Fishes in Tennessee

Photos from Afield

REU student Emme Amy euthanizes and preserves invasive Round Gobies and native Common Logperch to study their diet overlap and prey selection strategies from the Portage River, Ohio.

Stomach and intestine removed from a Common Logperch captured in Lake Erie.

Prey items from a Lake Erie logperch. These are almost entirely larval chironomids, a major component of logperch diets in Lake Erie.

REU student Emme Amy holds a Channel Catfish captured by seine in the Sandusky River, Ohio.

REU student Emme Amy hauls in a seine sample from Lake Erie on South Bass Island, Ohio. Her research was on dietary competition between native Common Logperch and invasive Round Goby.

REU student Emme Amy, an undergrad from Dayton University, spent 8 weeks conducting fish ecology research at Stone Lab in summer 2024. Here, she is learning the character-building process of mounting and identifying chironomid larvae from fish stomachs and the lake.

Prey items from a Round Goby sampled from Lake Erie. Most of the items are chironomids larvae, but you can see the Zebra Mussel, and there is a caddisfly larva in the Hydropsychidae family of net-spinning caddisflies.

An adult chironomid from Gibraltar Island on Lake Erie. These non-biting midges in the true fly order of insects spend most of their life underwater as larvae and pupae, emerging as terrestrial winged adults to mate, lay eggs in the water, and die.

A larval chironomid called Glyptotendipes from a Common Logperch stomach sampled in the Portage River, Ohio.

Graduate student Grant Fisher measures substrate sizes with ecological engineer Dr. John Schwartz as part of a collaborative research to see if restored urban streams provide functional lift to the aquatic ecosystem.

Measuring geomorphology of streams to see if restoring banks and stream beds improve fish and aquatic invertebrate functional traits in urban stream ecosystems.

Endangered Laurel Dace (Chrosomus saylori) from Shawna Mitchell's field research summer 2019.

Field work selfie while "helping" Shawna Mitchell sample Laurel Dace for her thesis research.

Shawna Mitchell checks a water temperature logger in a Laurel Dace stream.

Lots of fun with TN Aquarium Conservation Institute partners removing invasive Green Sunfish from a creek that used to support endangered Laurel Dace.

The very rare Sequatchie Caddisfly (Glyphospyche sequatchie). It only lives in a coupe cold cave springs outside of Chattanooga.

Working with federal and state partners to monitor the rare Sequatchie Caddisfly.

Villosa iris from the Hiwassee River.

Pleurobema oviforme getting ready to be tagged and stocked into Citico Creek where it was once known to occur but was likely extirpated.

Pleurobema oviforme (Tennessee Clubshell) filtering food in the Hiwassee River.

Pleurobema oviforme with a glued on external Hallprint tag so we can track survival and growth in Citico Creek where it will be stocked.

Gerry Dinkins stocks Epioblasma aureola into Citico Creek. The first time they've been back in over 70 years.

PIT tagged and external numbered tags placed on juvenile Epioblasma aureola reared at the Virginia state mussel hatchery and ready to be repatriated into Citico Creek, where they once existed but are now extirpated.

Big Rock Creek, tributary to the Duck River in Marshall Co., Tennessee, where in May 2018, grad student Kristin Irwin is assessing density and recruitment of mussels

Kristin Irwin conducts a quantitative mussel sample in Big Rock Creek to estimate density and recruitment of mussels.

Gerry Dinkins and Kristin Irwin counting mussels found in randomly selected quadrats along a transect line in Big Rock Creek.

Can you spot the darter, a potential mussel glochidia host, spying on the mussel?

Villosa taeniata (Top: aka, Painted Creekshell) and Villosa vanuxemensis (Bottom: aka, Mountain Creekshell) from Big Rock Creek, Marshall Co., TN.

A juvenile Pleuronaia barnesiana (Tennessee Pigtoe) from Big Rock Creek.

A shell from a Villosa taeniata in Big Rock Creek.

Can you see the darter at the top left eyeing the Villosa vanuxemensis at the bottom right?

Villosa taeniata from Big Rock Creek attempts to burrow back in its habitat after being measured.

Keith Garner, Justin Wolbert, and UT Students prepare Mountain Madtoms, Bluebreast Darters, and River Chubs for translocation stocking to the Pigeon River from the French Broad River in May 2018

Holding buckets supplying fresh cool water for fishes waiting to be translocated to the Pigeon River from the French Broad

Snail Darter (Percina tanasi) from the French Broad River near Knoxville, May 7, 2018

Mountain Madtoms from the French Broad about to be translocated to the Pigeon River for recovery of its native fauna

Bluebreast Darter (Nothonotus camurus) about to be moved to the Pigeon River

Banded Darter (Etheostoma zonale)

A hot male Snubnose Darter (Etheostoma simoterum) from the French Broad River May 7, 2018

A strikingly beautiful Redline Darter (Nothonotus rufilineatus) from the French Broad River May 7, 2018.

Fisheries Techniques students sampling mussels in the Nolichucky River in 2017

Fisheries Techniques students learning to sample fish like this Flathead Catfish from Ft. Loudoun reservoir using gill nets and hoop nets.

Quantitative sampling for mussels by the Fisheries Techniques class in 2017

The Spiny River Snail (Io fluvialis) which has been restored to the Nolichucky River.

Lampsilis ovata, the Pocketbook, from the Harpeth River

Simpsonaias ambigua (Salamander mussel) discovered by Kristin Irwin's research from the Harpeth River. This is the first record of this species from the Cumberland River system.

Kristin Irwin recording species composition and size distribution of mussels from the Harpeth River.

Kristin Irwin paddles happily down the Harpeth River while conducting research for her masters thesis.

Meredith poses with a recaptured Lake Sturgeon from Watts Bar Reservoir in November 2016.

Awkward family photo with Justin, Brian, and Meredith.

Keith shows off a 12 year old Lake Sturgeon from November 2016.

Meredith and Justin get a fin clip from a Lake Sturgeon for genetics analysis

A nice Blue Catfish from Watts bar Reservoir.

Trot line sampling for Lake Sturgeon during Fisheries Techniques class

Keith Garner instructs Fisheries Techniques students how to insert a PIT tag into a Lake Sturgeon.

Gerry Dinkins and Chuck Howard teach Fisheries Techniques students how to conduct quantitative sampling for mussels.

Just doing a little mussel research in Fisheries Techniques class.

Semi-quantitative kick net sample for aquatic insects during Fisheries Techniques class

Pickin' and grinnin' for aquatic insects during Fisheries Techniques class.

Sickle Darter (Percina williamsi) from Little River. Photo by Justin Wolbert

Sickle Darter from Little River. Photo by Justin Wolbert

Meredith Hayes, Justin Wolbert, and undergraduate student Corey Chapman spy a Sickle Darter in Little River.

Sickle Darter from Little River. Photo by Justin Wolbert.

Sickle Darter (Percina williamsi)

A Sickle Darter says "Hi" from it's woody home in a east Tennessee creek.

The elusive and rare Ashy Darter (Etheostoma cinereum) sampled from Little River in 2016.

in 2016, a Gilt Darter (Percina evides) is observed during annual snorkel monitoring of the Pigeon River.

Joyce Coombs paddles down the Pigeon River to monitor the success fish and mollusk reintroductions.

in 2015, Ph.D. student Dan Walker uses side scan sonar to map the bottom of the Chickamauga dam tailwater (Tennessee River) where it is believed that reintroduced Lake Sturgeon will spawn.

Dr. Dave Etnier pays tribute to the late Dr. Herbert Boschung at the annual "Passing of the Bird" ceremony at the Southeastern Fishes Council meeting.

Dr. Dave Etnier imparts his knowledge onto Dr. Alford who eagerly listens. Photo by Amy Wales.

Dept. of Forestry, Wildlife, & Fisheries football tailgate with students and faculty. Go Vols!

Perlid stonefly nymphs from the Nolichucky River