The Aquatic Life at Aquarena

[carrielsal]

For those of us still trying to figure out what all the plants and marine life are at Aquarena, let's see if we can post pic's of everything. Here's what I have found so far.

Coontail

Texas Blind Salamander

Fountain Darter

Black Bass

Spotted Gar

 

[carrielsal]

San Marcos Salamander

Hydrilla

Texas Wild Rice

 

[driftwood]

Thanks Carrie,

Great idea to post quality photos.

 

[carrielsal]

My book is packed away, and I can't remember the name of other plants we see. Also, what kind of turtles do we see? Are they map turtles?

 

[driftwood]

The top three turtles that come to mind are the snapping turtle, red eared slider and the musk turtle.

The best book that I have is Kimmel's The San Marcos A River's Story. The appendix has an extensive listing of native and nonnative plants and fish.

 

[austinspace]

A few times I've seen a creature darting on the bottom. Though its too fast and too little to actually see what it is, and then its gone. Fountain Darter perhaps ?

 

[PeppermintPaddi]

I've seen Jeff find fountain darters and salamanders. That's why I try to be careful with the algae. The plants mentioned in class are:
Kobomba -- white flower (good)
Arrowroot -- long leaves about 1" wide (good)
Parrots feather -- looks like a long bottle brush (good)
Coonstail -- looks like a forest of pine trees (bad)

There are other plants such as eel grass, hygrophylus(sp?), and rarely hydrilla, that Jeff and John can point out. There's a lot to learn after class too.

For those with unlimited bandwidth, here are some interesting links:

Fish and plants by TPWD. Pg 11 is a topo map with labeled springs.
Fishery Inventory and Habitat Assessment of Spring Lake at Aquarena Center

Plant ID help from (cough, cough) A&M
http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/database/

TPWD fish ID - although it's hard to make a positive ID on many of them unless you know the habitat they frequent
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/landwater/water/aquaticspecies/inland.phtml

Underwater pictures of various springs and a labeled aerial photo
http://www.edwardsaquifer.org/pdfs/...ons_and_photographs_of_san_marcos_springs.pdf

Real time USGS water flow for San Marcos (thanks Jeff)
USGS Real-Time Water Data for USGS 08170500 San Marcos Rv at San Marcos, TX

Great history of the Springs with old photos and postcards
San Marcos Springs

 

[RumBum]

Here are a few pics of the plants of Aquarena:

Little white flower:

Here is Arrowroot in the foreground:

I don't know the name of this but it is beautiful in the flow:

 

[RumBum]

A few times I've seen a creature darting on the bottom. Though its too fast and too little to actually see what it is, and then its gone. Fountain Darter perhaps ?

Yep, that's them. They are darting to a new hiding spot!

 

[carrielsal]

Nice pics of the plants. I have problems remembering which are which.