Cliff Kraft was the Wisconsin Sea Grant fishery specialist until
he moved to Cornell University in 1998. Cliff earned a his Master's
and Doctorate degree in Oceanography and Limnology at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison. ("Limnology" is the scientific study
of the life and phenomena of lakes, ponds and streams.)
As part of his job with Sea Grant, Cliff studied the fish of Wisconsin,
and helped educate people around the state who are interested in lake
issues. Cliff helped out with this Web site by choosing the Great Lakes
fish that we've featured.
Q: Why did you select these
particular 10 fish to represent the Great Lakes?
A: I tried to select fish
that either were characteristic of Great Lakes environments, or
were good representatives of groups of fish that are found in the
Great Lakes but receive little attention. For example, numerous
suckers (Catastomidae) are found in the nearshore areas of the
Great Lakes, and longnose suckers are one of the interesting
examples that people are not usually familiar with. Spottail
shiners represent the numerous members of the minnow family
(Cyprinidae), and this species is one of the most abundant nearshore
Great Lakes fishes. It was hard to ignore several widely recognized
species such as lake sturgeon and lake trout.
