Join the Friends of the Presumpscot River to hear Dr. Ciaran Shaughnessy’s lecture that introduces current hypotheses on the unanswered question “How did anadromy evolve?” and provides a general overview of the physiological drivers that propel fish to migrate to the ocean and eventually guide them back home to the river.

This presentation is the first of the Friends of the Presumpscot Rivers 2021 "River Talks" It occurs as alewife are migrating up our rivers. For the first time in hundreds of years alewife are able to pass the falls at Saccarappa due to the work of FOPR and iti many allies. While in the midst of our fish migration, this is a lecture that pertains to anyone interested in how and why fish migrate. It is in conjunction with the publication of the book "River Voices" of which Ciaran, with ichthyologist Dan Hall, is a chapter c0-author.

Ciaran grew up in Maine, making frequent use of the many paddling, swimming, and fishing opportunities along the Presumpscot River. He is a research biologist with a PhD from UMass Amherst. He has studied many anadromous fishes including salmon, shad, sturgeon, and lamprey, at the USGS Conte Anadromous Fish Research Laboratory. He is currently an National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow at National Jewish Health in Denver, CO studying cystic fibrosis. Ciaran was recently awarded a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship to continue to research the physiology of primitive fishes at the University of Denver.