Thursday, October 28, 2010

Crazy Cool Fish




This is a Pallid Sturgeon at the Neosho National Fish Hatchery in Neosho, Missouri. The hatchery (which has been operating since 1888!) grows the endangered Pallid Sturgeons and releases them back into their natural habitat. This fish is so surprising. It's huge, and very unusual looking...prehistoric, actually. But it's also friendly and recognizes its keepers. The hatchery's manager, David Hendrix, met us for a tour of the facility, and I felt like a little kid meeting the "mama" sturgeons. The (unofficial) blog for the hatchery has all kinds of cool information about their activities.

Dec. 9 is the grand opening of their new visitor's center, modeled after the original center which was torn down some time ago. I love that it holds to such high aesthetic principles and connection to history. The visitor center lobby is full of historical murals and kids' activities (like a huge aquarium with a plexiglass dome that allows you to stand up "inside" the aquarium like you're in there with the fish...yeah, it's THAT cool.)

I designed a T-Shirt for the Friends of the Fish Hatchery to sell in the gift shop. Here's the one they chose, with a signature rainbow trout, the new visitor center, and the iconic stone arch that's been there since 1888:


I did several versions, and would love to get this one produced too:



Here are the Pallid Sturgeon "minnows" (each about a foot long):


And here is one of the "mama" Sturgeons sticking its head out of the water when we arrived:


Oops, that was the wrong picture...that was a picture I took of myself for the Joplin Globe, but it was so funny, I thought I'd leave it up.