The Urban Whale

That is the title of a new text book published by Harvard University Press. There is an entire chapter on Urban Oceans and Marine Life. It gives accounts of the impact of commercial fishing and boating on marine communities that live near commercial fishing towns,

An Urban Whale – the thought had never crossed my mind. In fact an urban aquatic anything had completely escaped me. How is that possible? I’ve lived near the Mighty Mississippi River my entire life. How could I have completely slept on the fact that was indeed Urban Aquatic communities? I have an obvious terrestrial bias. I’ll work to remedy that. I’ll feature more aquatic organisms in my Urban Wildlife Watch Series.
And so as not to leave you hanging here is a list of common aquatic organisms.

• Catfish
• Buffalo fish
• Trout
• Minnows
• Sturgeons
• Asian Carp (invasive species)
• Crawfish
• Beaver
• Muskrat
• Waterfowl like geese, ducks, herons, egrets
• Mosquito, worms and other invertebrates

Update: Related to this post I am linking to a new marine ecology blog I discovered - Right Whale of Fundy Blog, operated by the New England Aquarium. I'm adding it to the Blogroll, too.

Enjoy!