A lab technician using cutting-edge technology to capture fishes' genetic data at the Hagerman Fish Culture Center in southern Idaho.
credit:
Aaron Kunz
The Hagerman Fish Culture Experiment Station is on the same grounds as the Hagerman National Fish Hatchery, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service operates.
credit:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The Hagerman lab employs technology to speed up the processing of thousands of fish samples from the field in the Northwest, as well as to reduce human error.
credit:
Aaron Kunz
Robotic equipment at Hagerman can process 1,000 samples at a time. It does between 50,000 and 75,000 samples per year.
credit:
Aaron Kunz
A single sample -- some scales, a fin clipping, or stomach contents -- can be used to determine the genetic ancestry of a fish going back ten generations.
credit:
Aaron Kunz
Fish in these raceways at a tribal hatchery on Washington's Olympic Peninsula get regular feedings -- unlike wild fish that compete for food while trying to evade predators.