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Healthy Planet

Friending a Fish

One of Earth’s most ancient animals has inhabited some of the modern world’s hottest locations: Facebook and Twitter.

A child peers into a tank of lamprey during an educational outreach sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (Photo: Dave Herasimtschuk, Freshwaters Illustrated)
A child peers into a tank of lamprey during an educational outreach sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (Photo: Dave Herasimtschuk, Freshwaters Illustrated)

By Lee Anna Sherman

One of Earth’s most ancient animals has inhabited some of the modern world’s hottest locations: Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Pacific lamprey last year had a virtual life on social media in the character of “Luna,” an imaginary fish that kids could follow online as she migrated through the Columbia River Basin.

Now, Oregon State has joined USFWS to create a multimedia lamprey curriculum for students in grades four through six.

“The curriculum helps students meet core standards in science and social science,” says Maureen Hosty, the Portland-based OSU Extension 4-H specialist who is leading development of the Pacific Lamprey in the Classroom Project along with Sean Connolly and Donna Allard of USFWS. “Students are able to move through the six learning modules at their own pace and in an order that is intuitive to them.”

Contact Hosty at maureen.hosty@oregonstate.edu for details.

For more on lamprey research, see Survivors from the Depths of Time.