The  3^rd graders watched a presentation by Mr. Breederland  from Traverse City. He works for Michigan Sea Grant Extension Services for northwest Michigan. He talked to us about invasive species in our lakes and how they got here.

Great Lakes Most UNWANTED
By Emily

On Monday, March 2, Mr. Breederland came and told us about unwanted fish in the great lakes. The first one I'll be talking about is the sea lamprey. We don't want it in our great lakes because it kills our fish. What it does is puts its round mouth on the fish and drills a hole in it. Then it sucks up the blood. So it gets fed and the fish dies. It got here by attaching to big ships called fraters and the fraters come to the great lakes and it lets go. Soon it has more babies and they have babies. It's Bad! People have created a chemical. It was made in Michigan. It will kill sea lamprey. They put it in the creek. The sea lamprey go in it and die. There are still many more, but if we work hard they will be gone. ~Emily

On Monday Mr. Breederland came to the third grade class to talk about all kinds of fish. One of the animals was a sea lamprey. It looks like a snake. He said Guagga Mussels are on the bottom of lakes. Another one is a Zebra Mussel. They are very sharp. Lake Michigan is 960 feet deep. A lot of those creatures get in the ballast of freighters. His visit was good because I have never heard of guagga mussels. ~Hobi

When Mr. Breederland came he told us all kinds of things. He told us that this thing called a sea lamprey sucks the blood out of other fish! He also told us about the fish called a G=Goby. It eats other fishes eggs! There was also a shell called a zebra mussel. He didn't really tell us what that did. There was also something called eurasian milfoil. That hooks itself to motor boat propellers. That's some of the things he talked about. ~Jeremiah

Mr. Breederland works at Michigan State University. He taught us about how sea lamprey's suck onto a fish and suck the blood out of the fish and then the fish dies. He brought in a real sea lamprey but it was in a bag and dead of course. He taught us about eurasian milfoil that's a plant. He said if you go fishing with your boat ant there is eurasian milfoil-weeds on your motor make sure you get it all off before you go fishing again so it doesn't spread. I liked Mr. Breederland's visit because he taught me more about what to do to keep our lakes clean. ~Emilee

Mr. Breederland came to Mrs. Catanese's class to share about bad things that live in our water. He shared about rusty crayfish, sea lamprey, qugga mussls, ruff, eurasion milfoil plant, zebra mussels. Zebra mussels will cut you if you step on one and trust me on this one, it does not feel good to get cut by one. oooowwwwyyyy! ~Ethan

Sea Lampreys suck blood of fish. They look like snakes. They have a lot of teeth. They attach themselves to salmon. They steel the blood of salmon. They look like eels. Sea lampreys swim fast. I liked Mr. Breederland's visit. ~Dylan

• Sea Lamprey -A sea lamprey is a fish. It looks like an eel with a suckshon cup.

• Rusty Crayfish -A rusty crayfish is like a crayfish but it is white and red.

• Quagga Mussels -A quagga like zebra muscles. I think the quagga are blue.

• Ruffe -The ruff are smilar to perch

• Eurasian Milfoil - Eurasian milfoil is a weed. It can get caught on a boat motor. It can spread from lake to lake.

• Zebra Mussel - Zebra mussals are like little clams. Fish eat zebra mussels.

Mr. Breederland came on March 2, 2009 to my school to talk to my class about what's in our body of water. There is something called Sea Lamprey. A sea lamprey is a kind of fish that can hook onto another fish with its mouth. There are a few more things called rusty crayfish, guagga mussels, ruffe, eurasian milfoil, and zebra mussels. A crayfish is about as big as a kids fist. A zebra mussel is like a shell but they can cut someone's foot. A quagga mussel is like the cousin of the zebra mussel but quagga mussel stays on flatter grounds and zebra mussels can go on flat ground or bumpy grounds. A ruffe is a kind of little fish that is in the pike family except smaller. I liked Mr. Breederland's visit because it was very interesting because he let us feel a wooden fish it's called a ruffe. The ruffe is the fish with the suction cup mouth. ~Carlee

When Mr. Breederland came he talked about rusty crayfish, sea lamprey, quagga mussels, Ruffe, eurasian milfoil and Zebra Mussels. Sea Lampreys suck fishes blood. We got to see a real Sea Lamprey! They got here by swimming or a Freighters bottom. Zebra Mussels have been here 20 years. I liked Mr. Breederland's visit because I got to learn new things. ~Zoe
 

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Mr. Breederland came in to talk about things that don't belong in the Great Lakes. He told us that Lake Michigan is 960 feet deep. ~ Madison

Mr. Breederland came and talked about sea lamprey, rusty crayfish, quagga mussels, zebra mussels, ruffe and eurasian milfoil. He brought dead sea lamprey. Did you know that the sea lamprey suck blood from other fish? Mr. Breederland let us see a fish that had plastic to cover it. He said that quagga mussels suck water in and then let it out. At the end I said I liked the visit because I learned something. ~Sydnee

Mr. Breederland came and told us  things that are bad for our lakes. I learned many new things. I learned the Sea Lamprey kinda looks like a green wooden stick. A Sea Lamprey sucks blood out of the fish. The deepest part of lake Michigan is 960 feet. Zebra mussels are very tough. If you step on one you will cut your feet. I thought his visit was cool. ~Julie

Mr. Breederland went to Michigan State University to go to collage. Lake Michigan is 960 feet deep. Sea lamprey need to go because they are taking all of our fish! If you have sea weed on your motor and you take it to a different lake and they fell off then it will start to grow there. It would not be good. I liked Mr. Breederland's visit because he brought things in. ~Nick

Mr. Breederland talked about unwanted species in Lake Michigan. First he talked about Sea lamprey. They hook on to fish and suck their blood and it kills the fish. Then he talked about rusty crayfish, quagga mussels, zebra mussels, ruffe, eurasian milfoil, and purple loosetrite. He brought in pictures of all the species. It was fun when he visited because he taught me about those species. ~Sylvia

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