In September 1997, 5th graders and their teachers from The Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood, New Jersey met Christopher Letts of the Hudson River Foundation at the Englewood Boat Basin on a warm, sunny morning. This marina and nearby beach are on the western shore of the Hudson River just north of the George Washington Bridge. He had a large seine, a net about 50 feet long with attached poles on each end. Mr. Letts and one of the teachers put on their hip waders so that their clothing would stay dry.
They walked into the river. Mr. Letts said the river bottom felt and looked like "black mayonnaise." As the teacher stayed put, Mr. Letts walked out a bit toward the middle of the river. He could not go too far, because the water would have started to go into his hip waders. He walked back toward the shore, always keeping the pole and the bottom of the net along the river bottom. He was "herding" the fish and the other river animals in toward the shore. The children said, "There's nothing in your net!" The river certainly looked calm. There were no fish jumping, no signs of life. Only the soaring ospreys above gave a clue about what might exist below the water's surface.
Click the button to learn more about the
soaring osprey.
Mr. Letts pulled the seine net onto the beach, just at the water's edge. There was so much life! Fish, comb jellies, crabs and shrimp were all moving and glistening in the sun. Mr. Letts worked quickly, putting a few of each kind of animal into buckets, which the children carried to the picnic table so they could look more closely. Mr Letts returned the rest of the animals to the river. He did not want any animal to suffer or die. The animals the children looked at were
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The animals were brought back to the classroom where we had set up several river tanks with filters to keep them clean and aerators for oxygen. Now the fourth and fifth grade children started studying the animals. They observed their anatomy: the shape and structure of their bodies. They looked the animals up in different field guides to learn about their habitats: where in the river they live; what they eat; what they need in order to survive. They drew pictures of each animal.
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The pipe fish swims around the tank. Some are thin and some are not. But most of them are long. They eat the tiny helpless brine shrimp. The pipe fish gracefully glides through the water. It hangs from leaves or hides under shells. Its tiny body is so brown and black that it shows very clearly in the water. The pipe fish is a very interesting animal to observe and look at. The pipe fish is amazing! Picture and Text by Eugenia, 5th grade |
After observing the river animals in the tanks, and reading about them in different field guides, the fourth graders drew the different layers or habitats of the Hudson River and the animals and plants that live in them: the Benthic or bottom dwellers; the Water Column, or animals that are carried along with the river currents; and the Nektonic, or free swimming animals that can swim against the current.
The Hudson River is a complete Ecosystem. It contains or produces everything the plants and animals of the river need to survive.
Click on River Habitats to learn about the plants and animals, their habitats and niches within this river ecosystem.
As you can see from Alex's drawing, herbivores, such as river worms and snails, eat the plants; small predators, such as crabs and shrimp, eat the herbivores; medium predators, such as pipe fish and small striped bass eat the small predators; large predators, such as osprey, eat the medium predators. Large predators like osprey are at the top of the food chain.
Links to other Hudson River sites:
http://www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu/
For more information contact Leslie Day, Science Teacher at The Elisabeth Morrow School or go to her web site http://www.NYSite.com. Click on "City Naturalist"
All photographs were taken by Leslie Day
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