Sturgeon Timeline - 4.6 Billion Years Ago to 1 Million Years Ago - Sherman Creek, Washington, USA
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T0SHEA
N 48° 35.003 W 118° 08.406
11U E 415917 N 5381771
This Sturgeon Timeline is inside the information center at the Sherman Fish Hatchery. It is located about 2 km south of the Sherman Pass Scenic Byway/Hwy. 20 at 152 Mellenberger Road.
Waymark Code: WMRK5A
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 07/02/2016
Views: 3
We were about 2 days early before the trout were to arrive at the hatchery. However we were not too early to fine two timelines.
The Sherman Creek Hatchery is operated by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The hatchery was built in 1991 and currently serves as a rainbow trout and kokanee rearing facility as well as the principal white sturgeon spawning hatchery.
Sturgeon Timeline
4.6 Billion Years Ago: Beginning of the Earth
3.4 Billion Years Ago: Unicellular Life Begins
1,875 to 1,500 Million Years Ago: Ameba were developing
750 to 450 Million Years Ago: Cristian Period
375 Million Year Ago to 350 Million Years Ago
Sharks
Sharks do not have scales but thick rubber armor like skin. This armor is made up of small tooth-like denticles. When the skin is rubbed from head to tail it feels smooth when rubbed the other way it feeler rough like sandpaper.
The shark has retained some of its prehistoric characteristics such as a skeleton made of cartilage.
Sharks have coloration known as counter sharing, dark on top and light below. To fish swimming above a shark the shark blends into the ocean's dark depths and to fish who are swimming below a shark, the shark blends into the light filtering water above.
Sharks use their large forked caudal (tail) fin to swim strong and fast.
325 Million Years Ago
Dinosaurs
These prehistoric reptiles lived when the earth was warm and covered with plants.
Dinosaurs lived on land. However, some needed water for part of their lifecycle. Some were huge plant eaters, and others horrific meat eaters.
Some dinosaurs even had wings, although they couldn’t fly. These are the ancestors of tile birds we see today. One theory states that bird feathers are evolved from scales.
Some scientists think that the big dinosaurs were warm blooded. This meant that they would need to eat a lot because 80 % of what they would eat would go to keeping their body temperature warm.
Between 325 Million Years Ago to 175 Million Years Ago
Crocodiles
Crocodiles have changed very little in how they look and act.
They are very tough and can survive serious injuries. For example, them ha.ve been crocodiles found in the wild with missing legs, yet they still rnana.ge to survive_ There have been crocodiles found in the wild with missing legs, yet they still manage to survive.
They have a long life span, often living for decades.
They are generalists, so they can eat a wide variety of foods. However, if their food supply is low they are capable of surviving for long periods of time, in fact many months.
As reptiles that live in water and on land, crocodiles are very well adopting to their environment.
175 Million Years Ago
Sturgeon
The sturgeon we see today are a living fossil, changed very little from the sturgeon of 175 million years ago.
They do not have scales but thick rubber armor like skin, made up of small tooth – like denticles.
Fish evolved in a time when they needed armor. Today, sturgeon still have armor in the form of 5 rows of bony scales which are razor sharp.
There torpedo shaped body allows sturgeon to swim quickly and quietly though the water.
Sturgeon are anadromous, they can live in both marine (ocean) water and fresh water.
They have taken advantage of the deep rivers and lakes found in the Northern Hemisphere. How much light would there be in these deep rivers and lakes?
Sturgeon are generalists, they feed on what is available.
They can grow up to 6 meters long; however this depends on food supply. White sturgeon in the Fraser tends to be smaller, 3 meters long. Do you think a fish this size has predator?
65 Million Years Ago
Extinction of the Dinosaurs
65 million years ago, dinosaurs and 50 percent of all creatures living at this time vanished abruptly, in fact no land animal over 25 kg is known to have survived.
Species living on land would have suffered more than species living in the water.
What caused this mass extinction? Scientists have a. number of theories including an exploding star, the earth's collision with a comet, global warming, a giant solar flare and a meteor hitting the earth.
Scientists hypothesize that a giant meteor traveling 20 miles per second hit the earth in an area south of North America.
The speed and weight of the meteor caused it to plough 5 km into the earth's surface, ejecting millions of tones of soil. All this dust in the atmosphere would have blocked the sun's ray less sunlight on earth would have made everything much colder creating a climate change.
Think about the plants on land how would they survive without sunlight, and the animals that eat the plants? What would have happened to the food chain?
4 Million Years Ago to 1 Million Years ago Man, and other species of mammals, aquatic and avian life forms flourished.
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