The eggs have hatched!

The trial for Trout and About continues to go from strength to strength. The fry are getting bigger and stronger and this morning I entered the office to discover the first of our eggs had hatched and the alevin are feeding off the yolk sacs.There have been a few eggs that haven't made it - these are white and opaque so they need to be removed from the tank in order to maintain the hygiene of the general tank conditions, but this is to be expected and the survivors look strong and healthy.

You can see the black eyes of the alevin in the photo. They will stay at the bottom of the tank for a while now, feeding off the protein in their yolk sacs. Of course, in the wild, they would be camouflaged amongst the gravel of the river bed, keeping safe from predators. It's brilliant being able to watch this transition from egg to fish close up, something that would be almost impossible to come across in the wild. Luckily, thanks to the wonders of technology, I found this wonderful video online which shows this this transformation happening in fantastic detail. You can watch it here. It's part of a blog from the Trout in the Town project for urban river restoration from the Wild Trout Trust

Taken from Paul Gaskell's Trout in the Town blog (see above)

In a few weeks I will be putting tanks into school classrooms across Bristol. I really hope that the trout will inspire young people to think about their local rivers, streams and lakes differently and encourage them to protect and explore their local natural environment.