The Copper Knight Fish still existed twenty, thirty years ago, in Quebec, from the St-Louis & St-Pierre Lakes to the Richelieu River, and the Yamaska river, also in Chambly,

There existed the fish called commonly "SUCKER".
It's real name is the Copper knight.
There are now only a few hundreds of them left.

No where else in the world does it exist.

In the 60's, on the north Yamaska, where our
Summer home was, the deer came to drink at the river.

In this river, there were lovely lively trouts:
rainbow and others, plus mud turtles, heels, and ... suckers.
Great big things, Grey-Coppery, these suckers were, in the deep somber waters, where sand and mud entwines, with an unusual mouth, and we did not gofter them, for they were no good to eat
except in the early spring,
since they were wormy and tasted of mud...
yet, they were so plentiful then
that we took them for granted.

Some, we believed, were well over 20 years old.
Year after year we would see some huge individuals, great-grandparent fishes, always poking their noses. ...Well, no more. The story as I knew it then, in 1975, was that some "well-meant persons" decided to help fishermen by "seeding" the River with the Perchaude. Within one season we felt the effect. Two years later we could not find a trout. Sometime later, the great mastodontes-of-the-river, Copper Knight, was no longer to be seen.

To tell you the truth, we did not notice when it indeed disappeared from our waters.

But, on the 10th of October 1998, Radio-Canada had a segment on this fish, , the Copper Knight, gravely endangered, on it's show "La Semaine Verte". A ten-minutes report, full of details.

For example, they said, there is a man who was able, in a Basin on the Richelieu, to raise some. The biggest ennemy are the summer crowds who swim noisily where the fishes & the eggs get disturbed at a crucial time. In Chambly, on an abandoned river dam (sault), they found archeological evidence of its rich population in a far-away past.

About the
Endangered Piper Plover Bird

At the beginning of 2000, there were
only 12 known pairs of Piper Plover
to be in existence in Eastern Canada
Click HERE to know a bit more

B.C. LONG-TAILED SMALL FROG

A newly identified frog (1998):
The little frog with long-tail,
which was found in West Vancouver, B.C.,
by a group of Young Naturalists.

An expert, (Ms.Dupuis) from the University of British Columbia is researching them since then, but it seems that the stream where they were found has been planned for Development. Nevertheless the appeal made at the council may have some impact.

The Long-Tailed Small Frog had been found up to 100 meters from the stream. The stream will be (for now) protected to 30 Meters. Support and interest will help this Cause. Inquire at West Vancouver City Hall for more info or apply at "La Semaine Verte" for an up-date, check the 13th of December 1998 show of "la Semaine Verte" on the Radio-Canada TV Chanel.

For TIPS on 'How to Protect your Pets from Strangers' Click here.

LINKS and Pictures of PANDA WOLF LINX etc. Click here.

Danielle.

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by Danielle Duval LeMyre
dlemyre@yahoo.com