Trout In the Classroom Update

The brook trout eggs that the students at Waterville Valley Elementary School have been caring for are beginning to hatch! So far there are about 30 that are out of their eggs and are now in the alevin stage of their life cycle. Check out the picture below and you will see the alevin with their yolk sac. The fish will absorb the yolk sac over the next few weeks. As their yolk sac disappears the trout will start swimming up looking for food. Generally this is when we would release them, but if there is still ice on the river then we will have to feed them until conditions are right for the trout to enter the river. Let's hope that we can keep the aquarium water cold enough to slow down the development rate so the river will be ice free when they start swimming up. Check back in a week or two for an update!