Morgantown Dominion Post
24 August 2006:
By Brandy Brubaker
There's a lot popping up in the Monongahela River lately.
First, a California University of Pennsylvania professor catches shrimp in the riverbed, then a Monongalia County boy finds jellyfish.
California University of Pennsylvania Associate Professor of Biology David Argent reports finding a dozen or so of the tiny shrimp in a stretch of the river from Fayette, Pa., to the West Virginia line, near Point Marion.
That means, although they haven't been spotted locally by river enthusiasts or fish experts, there could be shrimp in Morgantown's waters.
The shrimp, found on the river's bottom, aren't your typical cocktail variety.
Grass shrimp, also known as Palaemonetes kadiakensis, are only about an inch long and are native to the Mississippi River basin.
Argent said the shrimp may have migrated to the Mon or they may have been brought in with the ballast water of a boat that had traveled in the Mississippi.
The fact they are surviving in the Mon is an indicator of its quality of water, Mon River Revival Founder Tim Terman said.
"They only thrive in good water," Terman said.
Donald Strimbeck, of the Upper Monongahela River Association, agreed.
"All indication here in the last 30 years is that the Mon is recovering very nicely," Strimbeck said. "The Mon is perfectly safe to swim in and the fish are coming back."
"It's a good sign," he continued. Frank Jernejcic, of the state Division of Natural Resources, said the state hasn't sampled for grass shrimp, but he bets they are there.
"We're not talking about your average shrimp," Jernejcic said. "We don't usually see them in our waters."
Jernejcic said the small shrimp can be a good feed source for other fish.
Because of their river bottom location, however, it is likely that fish will be the only ones who see them, he said. And Argent, who saved a few. "As far as we know," he said, "this is the first catch of its kind in the Mon."
Thirteen-year-old Ashton Lynch made an unusual catch of his own this week - a jellyfish. Ashton, a South Middle School student, said he and his friends were swimming in the Mon near White Day Creek when he spotted something strange floating on the river.
"When I first saw them, I thought what were they?" Ashton said. "But, up close, I knew exactly what they were."
These freshwater jellyfish aren't like the ones Ashton had seen at the ocean - they're only about the size of a quarter.
Jernejcic said the jellyfish aren't uncommon - they often alarm swimmers and fishermen but are completely harmless.
"They're just kind of neat," Jernejcic said. "They look like contact lenses floating on the water."
"They're not the true jellyfish you see in the ocean," he continued.
The freshwater jellyfish are most plentiful in August and September, when the water is warm. Some years, the population is larger than other years and more sightings are reported, Jernejcic said.