Second Saturday: Snapping Turtles and American Paddlefish with Benhamin Thomas

Spencer Beard, Refuge Visitor Services Manager holding a Snapping turtle.

Tishomingo National Fish Hatchery (TNFH) initiated their Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys Temminckii) head-start program in 2000 with the objective of augmenting naturally occurring populations with low densities and reintroducing the turtles to extirpated populations where they historically occurred. Come lean how, at TNFH, hatchlings are housed, juveniles learn to hunt in ponds, and who benefits from the turtles.

TNFH also annually spawns adult American Paddlefish (Polyodon Spathula) to hatch and rear juvenile fish for stocking to reestablish a self-sustaining population.

Benjamin Thomas started work as a Fish Biologist at Tishomingo National Fish Hatchery in March 2023. He has been with the US Fish and Wildlife Service since 2020 and has a BS in Biology from Wittenberg University in Springfield Ohio and a MS in Biology from the University of Central Missouri. Ben is the lead biologist overseeing the alligator snapping turtle head start program and assists with the spawning of paddlefish, alligator gar, channel catfish and rearing of the resulting fry.

Photo by Jesus F Moreno