Major
Marine Biology
Advisor
Wetherbee, Bradley, M
Advisor Department
Biological Sciences
Date
4-2020
Keywords
Narragansett Bay; Fish; Development
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Abstract
Narragansett Bay is located on the north side of Rhode Island Sound, covering 147 square miles, and forms New England’s largest estuary. Narragansett Bay is inhabited by a variety of fish species, many of which are important for ecosystem function and others that are commercially harvested. Two common species found in Narragansett Bay are the chain dogfish, or chain catshark, (Scyliorhinus retifer) and the little skate (Leucoraja erinacea).
Both species are cartilaginous fishes that belong to the class Chondrichthyes. Chain catsharks and little skates are oviparous (egg laying) and produce eggs year-round. Eggs are deposited in a suitable environment by females, where predation is minimal, to allow for optimal development of each embryo within their egg case. Eggs hatch 6-12 months after they are laid. As a marine biology student and an intern for Save the Bay, I have learned a plethora of information about these species. Moreover, as an intern at Save the Bay’s Exploration Center and Aquarium in Newport, RI, I have seen its hatchery of chain catsharks and little skates thrive. For my honors project, I conducted an observational experiment that investigated the rate of growth of chain catshark and little skate embryos and their developmental stages within their egg cases. For a period of six weeks, I observed and measured anatomical structures of 10 embryos of each species on a weekly basis.
Furthermore, I observed embryonic movement and pigmentation. Each embryo was photographed each week to chronicle changes and to allow detailed investigation of embryonic development. Although I have participated in other research projects related to marine biology at URI, I had not conducted research on a topic that I would be interested in researching for my future career. A goal of my research, in addition to learning about reproductive cycles of fish, was to potentially identify the developmental stages that are the most crucial for the survival of these magnificent animals!