San Francisco, New York, Washington and other big cities are using bluegills — also known as sunfish or bream — as a sort of canary in a coal mine to safeguard their drinking water.Interesting article.
Small numbers of the fish are kept in tanks constantly replenished with water from the municipal supply, and sensors in each tank work around the clock to register changes in the breathing, heartbeat and swimming patterns of the bluegills that occur in the presence of toxins.
"Nature's given us pretty much the most powerful and reliable early warning center out there," said Bill Lawler, co-founder of Intelligent Automation Corporation, a Southern California company that makes and sells the bluegill monitoring system. "There's no known manmade sensor that can do the same job as the bluegill."
I once made myself an ultralight rig just to fish for bluegills. I found that very small bass lures were great for them. My best bluegill lure was a #0 Mepps silver spinner with a white tail. Very small floating poppers also brought them in, and it was great fun seeing them hit topwater lures.
How long now until animal rights freaks protest this?
