Ptychocheilus oregonensis: the largest carp in North America by Ariana Wilson There is one fish that has been stressing scientists along the Pacific Northwest and Northern California — the unassuming pike minnow. Due to its approachable-sounding name, one may infer that it is a small fish no bigger than your hand. The largest reported northern pikeminnow according to the International Game Fish Association world record was seven pounds and 14 ounces. Its counterpart, the Colorado pikeminnow, is the largest North American minnow and is an endangered native of the Colorado River. It has not always been known by its current…

by Nick Escalada Humboldt is a refuge for old-growth redwoods and progressive culture, as well as a seasonal pit stop for the largest animal on the planet. Blue whales are migratory marine mammals that occur in all the world’s oceans — except the Arctic — throughout the year. They convene with their grey and humpback cousins on the Northern California coast from late summer to early fall to feed, using their comb-like baleen plates to sieve krill and plankton from the water. “All baleen whales have two parts of their lives: one part where they’re feeding extensively, and then the…

Oncorhynchus clarkii: the trout with many homes by Ariana Wilson The cutthroat trout is the state fish for several western states, including Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. There are 14 recognized subspecies of cutthroat trout, with distinct subspecies designated as the state fish for Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. Cutthroat trout are typically found in well-oxygenated, shallow rivers and they reproduce in cold, deep lakes. They are native to alluvial or freestone streams, which in fly-fishing terminology refers to areas with loose gravel or sand. Some coastal cutthroat trout exhibit semi-anadromous behavior, living in both freshwater and saltwater environments. Fish…

by Carmen Ruiz Fernandez Among flight simulators and earthquake tables in the library’s Hall of Simulation, students can now explore an interactive 3D herbarium. There, they can bring plants to life like never before. Throughout September, interactive workshops were held every Monday on the library’s second floor to introduce students to the herbarium. Diego Rodrigez, organizer of the 3D workshop, said the events were important to remind students that the herbarium is available as a resource for classes or personal exploration, as well as to showcase its features. Currently, the herbarium contains approximately 86 plants, but the number continues to…

by Nick Escalada Environmentalism isn’t quite the first word in independent rock, but a group of Cal Poly Humboldt STEM undergrads seem to disagree. Meet Sporegasm, a band of natural sciences students who have shaken up the Humboldt scene for years by infusing a passion for the outdoors into unique blends of music. Ecological restoration seniors Brandt Porteous and Jack McCann and senior forestry major Mark Ortiz have all known one another since 2022, as roommates and former bandmates. McCann was president of the Mycology Club back then, and an idea to form a mushroom-themed band sprouted from their shared…

Oncorhynchus tshawytscha: the fish king of the “Beaver State” by  Ariana WilsonThis week, we welcome an out-of-state finned friend from the North — Oregon’s state fish, the chinook salmon. The most significant and valuable species of Pacific salmon, with its common name originating from the Chinookan peoples. Known by many other names, including king salmon, quinnat salmon, spring salmon, blackmouth, and tyee salmon. These salt and freshwater dwellers are native to the North Pacific Ocean and the river systems of western North America, from California to Alaska, as well as rivers in Asia, from northern Japan to northeast Siberia. After…

by Nick Escalada Ask any campus-dwelling Cal Poly Humboldt student what kind of wildlife they spot at night, and nine answers out of ten will be none other than the humble striped skunk. Mephitis mephitis is a common sight across North America, easily identified by their bushy tails and distinct white V-shaped stripe along their backs. These nocturnal omnivores primarily feed on insects, but have been known to diversify toward eating vegetable plants and small reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and aquatic invertebrates. Of course, the biggest cause for human concern within these animals is their ability to spray foul-smelling musk from…

By Nick EscaladaEver since a deadly coronavirus strain swept the globe in 2020, mankind has grown more health-conscious in wildly different ways, from vaccine abstinence to varying degrees of germophobia. In recent years following the original outbreak and the development of vaccines, COVID-19 has diminished conceptually from a world-threatening plague to a passing nuisance for most healthy people. Like all viruses, though, it is extremely volatile, and lingering variants still mutate, spread and sicken entire communities seemingly out of the blue. So far in the post-pandemic era, Cal Poly Humboldt appears to be a breeding ground for a new variant…

By Mia Costales Cal Poly Humboldt has made history as it becomes the first university in the state of California to earn an accreditation from the Society for Range Management (SRM) for the rangeland resource science (RRS) program. The program is now one of only 15 schools globally to earn this accreditation.   The rangeland resource science program at Cal Poly Humboldt is a science-based major with an emphasis on botany, soil science and rangeland management of natural resources. The program offers a hands-on approach to local land management and grants students the opportunity to work with ranchers, conservationists, tribes, government…

The species that made a girl start swimming with the fishies. By Ariana Wilson We stopped at a rest stop in Washington for the first time in what felt like a million years. Little did I know, that last stop of our cross-country roadtrip would alter my brain chemistry so much that it’d inspire a story in the Lumberjack.  The green sturgeon.  I was convinced that this fish could have swallowed me whole, and you would have been hard-pressed to change my mind that this magnificent fish was not, in fact, a shark. Looking back on my youth, this could…

By Jess Carey Cal Poly Humboldt’s proximity to the ocean and on-campus resources like the fish hatchery and Telonicher Marine Lab make it an ideal place to study aquatic organisms. Biology graduate student Lucas Kebow is unraveling the evolutionary history of a local fish species through a lens of embracing queer perspectives in science.  “The tubesnout is not the most important economically, but they’re interesting in the sense that there is so little information on them,” Kebow said. “They’re also a huge food source for a bunch of the animals we have here [in Humboldt Bay]. They’re super important for…

By Nick Escalada The Union Street sidewalk between the Kinesiology and Behavioral and Social Science  buildings is a well-trodden path at Cal Poly Humboldt. Whether it’s their first or hundredth commute, students often divert their gazes to the fenced-off aquatic compound beside them, many having little idea of its purpose. This is the university’s fish hatchery, a remarkable piece of infrastructure rarely seen on college campuses. The hatchery was constructed to serve the school’s equally unique fisheries curriculum. It acts as a small-scale representation of the wider ecological and aquacultural breeding programs that occur in commercial and government fisheries.  Hatchery…