Sandlance NSF-ORCC

Our lab presents sandlance research at LFC48 in Quebec!

Posted on June 21, 2025June 23, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

This year, our lab was represented by Hannes, Lucas, Emma, and Vicki - with the latter 3 doing a great job communicating the early findings of their PhD theses research via oral and poster presentations. Lucas shared genomic findings of sand lance in the Hudson Bay and from CO₂-sensitivity experiments. Emma presented first insights of experimental research on the inshore sand lance species, and Vicki showed that in- and offshore sandlance species might mix more than previously thought. In addition, Emma helped organize and conduct a well received panel discussion for early career scientists about the art of reviewing and publishing.

Quebec is an incredibly picturesque, historic city - and all of us were lucky to be treated with a banquet dinner at the Quebec Parliament at the end of the conference. Well done, all!

Oral and Poster Presentations at LFC48

Jones, L.F., Schembri, S., Bouchard, C., and Baumann, H. 2025. What sand lance species inhabits the Hudson Bay System in the Canadian Arctic? Oral presentation.
You, V., Batta-Lona, P., O'Donnell, T., and Baumann, H. 2025. Identifying sand lance species and their distributions in the Northwest Atlantic using real-time PCR (qPCR). Poster. /li>
Jones, L.F., Murray, C.S., Zavell, M.D., Siegfried, E., Therkildsen, N.O., and Baumann, H. 2025. Is there a genomic basis to CO₂ sensitivity in the Northern sand lance? Poster.
Siegfried, E. and Baumann, H. 2025. Temperature effects on the time to hatch in American sand lance (Ammodytes americanus). Poster.

What sand lance species inhabits the Hudson Bay?

Posted on January 25, 2025January 26, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

About 5 years ago, we began to receive samples of sand lance from Canadian colleagues who had collected them in places such as the Grand Banks, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and even in coastal waters of western Greenland. When these samples were compared genetically to sand lance in the south (e.g. Stellwagen Bank) study, it revealed the existence of two large population clusters of Northern sand lance (Ammodytes dubius) on the Northwest Atlantic shelf (Jones et al. 2023). It was also the first genetic study of Lucas Jones, and it earned him his Masters degree in 2022.

A few years later, our Canadian colleague Caroline Bouchard approached us with a related problem. They had collected larval sand lance samples by ship tows in the Hudson Bay - the famously vast, shallow shelf sea in the Canadian Arctic - but there was no way to identify them to species level with traditional tools. If we might be interested to have a - genomic - look?

Lucas - now a PhD student - sure was. After DNA was extracted and sequenced in the same way as with the other samples before (i.e., low coverage whole genome sequencing), he applied his already developed bioinformatic pipeline to answer the question, which sand lance species inhabits the Hudson Bay?

So here it is. As the now published, first chapter of his PhD research reports - the findings were surprisingly unequivocal. All samples clustered with (i.e., were genomically indistinguishable from) the Northern sand lance (A. dubius).

This, we argue in the paper, demonstrated two things: First, the northern genotype of A. dubius forms a genetically homogeneous population across an astoundingly large geographic range of > 2 million km², and second, there does not (yet?) appear to be any sign of Pacific sand lance species mixing in with the Atlantic species in this region.

Congrats, Lucas, and fingers crossed for your next discoveries of sand lance genomics!

Jones, L.F., Schembri, S., Bouchard, C., and Baumann, H. (2025)
Molecular identification of larval sand lance (Ammodytes spp.) caught in the Hudson Bay System 2010-2018
Environmental Biology of Fishes (published online 25 January 2025)

HudsonBayAmmodytes — Map of the Canadian Arctic with the Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait. Unknown *Ammodytes* spp. (red circles) were sampled 2010–2018 and identified as *A. dubius* using whole genome sequencing (gif turning into blue circles). Known congeners from Jones et al. (2023) with blue circles/shading showing the putative range and sampling sites for Northern sand lance (*A. dubius*) comprised of a northern cluster (NC, dark blue circles) and a southern cluster (SC, light blue circles), the grey square denoting American sand lance (*A. americanus*) sampled from a nearshore site in the Gulf of Maine, and yellow diamond/shading denoting the putative range/sampling site for the Pacific sand lance (*A. personatus*). Green shading depicts putative occurrence of the Arcto-Pacific congener *A. hexapterus*, which has recently invaded the Canadian Arctic (green circles, Falardeau et al. 2017)

Beachseining at night. In a snowstorm. For sandlance.

Posted on December 15, 2024December 17, 2024 by Hannes Baumann

10 December 2024. Emma and Hannes just returned from another trip to Wells Harbor in Maine, where we had been sampling and monitoring a local population of American sand lance (Ammodytes americanus) over the late summer and into fall. This was definitely a trip for the history books. Not because of the sand lance, mind you (we caught a total of 7), and certainly not for the beauty of the scenery either. We had hoped to catch these fish close to the begin of their spawning season (which starts around December) at low tide in the harbor, reasoning that our chances would be better at night. What we hadn't in mind was the snow storm that began walloping coastal Maine just as we arrived at the site. But what's a (slightly nutty) biologist to do? We gritted our teeth, hoped for the waders not to leak and braved the elements ...

Fishing for inshore sand lance in Maine

Posted on September 11, 2024September 11, 2024 by Hannes Baumann

20 August 2024. Emma and Hannes went on a road trip through New England to again visit our good friends and colleagues at the National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) in Wells, ME, Jeremy Miller and Jason Goldstein. Our mission this time was to try - for the first time - to find and collect American sand lance (Ammodytes americanus), the congener species to the Northern sand lance (A. dubius), which our lab has been investigating for now more than 7 years.

While the Northern sand lance can be reliably found on Stellwagen Bank in the southern Gulf of Maine, the specific whereabouts and promising collection sites for A. americanus are new, uncharted territory for us. They are often referred to as the inshore sand lance species, but where exactly would be a good spot to collect them?

On this late August week, we followed a tip from Jeremy from the Wells NERR to look at the harbor, where he had seen large schools near the docks all through summer.

After a good amount of scouting and trial (and error!) we ultimately got lucky at dead low tide, where we were able to use the beach seine to catch more than a thousand sand lance adults and eventually succeeded in transporting ~ 300 of them back to the Rankin Lab for further learning how to rear and keep them.

This was the first of a handful of upcoming trips, where we plan to catch sand lance closer and closer to the begin of their spawning season at the end of November.

We hope that the luck stays with us during the next trips.

A Day on the Ocean

Posted on June 6, 2024June 6, 2024 by Hannes Baumann

20 May 2024. Who wouldn't want to trade the confines of a highschool classroom for a day on the ocean, particularly one packed with whales, dolphins and seabirds? On this Monday in May, 60 seniors of the Marine Magnet Highschool in Groton, CT and the Plainfield Highschool in Plainfield, CT were indeed lucky enough to enjoy such exceptional experience and a very special class out on the water.

Because this was no ordinary whale watch. Our team from the NSF-funded sand lance project (Hannes, Zosia, Lucas, and Emma) accompanied the highschoolers and together boarded the "Tails of the Sea" (Captain John Boats, Plymouth, MA). While the vessel navigated the route to the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Zosia, Emma and Lucas assembled small groups of students to tell them more about what extraordinary fish sand lance are, why they are so important, and why ocean acidification may be a troublesome issue for these forage fish.

Emma and students — On 20 May 2024, Emma Siegfried explains the importance of sandlance to highschool students

What we hoped but couldn't have known for sure: nature spectacularly cooperated with our curriculum. We observed large numbers of minke, fin, and humpback whales as well as a large pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins chasing schools of sand lance all around the ship, while gannets, seagulls and terns were trying to get their share of the feast from above. Mesmerized, nobody could get away without learning the central lesson of this day. Sand lance are the backbone of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, and there are still too many things we do not know about these fish.

Lucas and students — Lucas Jones introduces Stellwagen Bank to students of the Marine Magnet Highschool in Groton, CT

A strong showing at the 47th Larval Fish Conference!

Posted on May 18, 2024May 18, 2024 by Hannes Baumann

17 May 2024. Members of our Evolutionary Fish Ecology Lab had a blast attending this years 47th Larval Fish Conference in Huron, OH. Hannes, Emma, Max and alumnus Chris Murray (now at WHOI), went on a road trip from Connecticut to Lake Eerie to present and learn about all things larval fish. On Tuesday morning, the conference crowd enjoyed excursion or recreation options, all the while catching up with good old colleagues and making new connections and friends. A particular achievement: each of us presented research on a different fish species; while Hannes showed the first data emerging from his sabbatical research on Chilean silversides, Emma talked about baby California grunion development. Max presented a poster and two talks, the first about CO₂ effects on the onset of schooling in Atlantic silversides and a second one one Black Sea Bass overwintering dynamics. Last, Chris Murray gave a fascinating first look into gene expression data from our most recent sand lance CO₂ experiment. All around, a strong showing of our lab!

Contributions from our lab to the 47th Larval Fish Conference in Huron, OH

Baumann, H., Gallardo, A., Gallardo, C., and Urbina, M. 2024. First evidence for countergradient growth variation in the Chilean silverside Odontesthes regia. Oral presentation

Siegried, E. and Johnson, D. 2024. Eyes bigger than your stomach: developmental inaccuracy in larval California grunion. Oral presentation.

Zavell, M.D., Mouland, M., Barnum, D., Matassa, C., Schultz, E.T., and Baumann, H. 2024. Overwintering dynamics of northern stock Black Sea Bass, Centropristis striata, juveniles. Oral presentation.

Zavell, M.D., O'del, J., Mouland, M., Webb, J.F., and Baumann, H. 2024. Ontogeny of larval schooling and effects of ocean acidification in Atlantic Silversides (Menidia menidia). Oral presentation.

Murray, C.S., Jones, L., Siegfried, E., Zavell, M.D., Baumann, Z., Wiley, D., Therkildsen, N., Aluru, N., and Baumann, H. 2024. Examining the effect of ocean acidification on hatching enzyme gene expression in Northern sand lance (Ammodytes dubius). Oral presentation.

New 2023 sand lance experiment under way!

Posted on November 27, 2023November 27, 2023 by Hannes Baumann

By Lucas Jones.

November 26, 2023. Members of the Sand lance Mafia assembled onboard the F/V Miss Emily in hopes of finding spawning ripe fish for our 2023 experiment. After loading our gear, Captain Kevin navigated us towards the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank and deployed our beam trawl for our first 10-minute tow.

Boom! From the first tow, fish in spawning condition were brought on board, counted and separated by sex. Now, we just needed to repeat this for 13 more trawls until we had a sufficient amount of fish to start the experiment. After collecting 40+ spawning ripe males and females, we headed back to port wile starting to strip-spawn. This is an all hands on deck process, where we need to work together to evaluate the fish in real time and use the most ripe fish available.

The successful strip-spawn event now marks the start of our most ambitious experiment to date, where DNA and RNA samples will help us further investigate potential mechanisms behind the sand lances high CO2 sensitivity.

NSF awards our collaborative sand lance grant!

Posted on June 24, 2023June 24, 2023 by Hannes Baumann

24 June 2023. We are overjoyed to be able to announce today that NSF's Division of Integrative Organismal Systems has awarded our proposed research to better understand sand lance CO2 sensitivity!

With a sense of pride and humility we will take on this intriguing case, follow it down some rabbit holes, while keeping in mind the big picture. This fall, our collaborative team will begin its renewed work, now on both congeneric sandlance species (Ammodytes dubius, A. americanus).

We already have two talented PhD students recruited to the task, Lucas Jones and Emma Siegfried. With curiosity and anticipation, we look forward to the next years of eco-evolutionary research on some of the most important forage fish species on the Northwest Atlantic Shelf.

Public Award Abstract
Ocean warming and acidification are direct, predictable consequences of man-made climate change with likely vast but still insufficiently understood consequences for marine life.

So far, most tested fish species appear only mildly sensitive to ocean acidification, but sand lances are an exception. Sand lances are small, eel-like, schooling fishes of enormous importance as food for marine fish, seabirds and mammals in temperate to polar ecosystems, and recent research conclusively demonstrated that many sand lance embryos have trouble developing and hatching under predicted future ocean conditions.

This project uses modern experimental and molecular tools to understand exactly WHY sand lance embryos are so unusually sensitive and which genes and enzymes are responsible for this. Genes will also reveal whether some specific genotypes are less sensitive to warming and acidification, which can then be used to predict whether the species could evolve to be more tolerant over time.

Another important objective is to test a closely related sand lance species to find out, whether the high climate sensitivity might be of general concern in this important group of forage fishes. This project combines innovative ecological, evolutionary, and genomic research to help society anticipate looming marine ecosystem changes in the 21st century, while equipping the next generation of scientists with the needed tools and expertise to succeed in the challenges ahead.

The project also creates opportunities for high school students from underprivileged Connecticut schools to accompany the team on sand lance sampling trips to Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

Technical Award Abstract
Two recent studies on Northern sand lance (Ammodytes dubius), a key forage fish on offshore sand banks across the Northwest Atlantic shelf (NWA), have robustly demonstrated that predicted future CO₂ conditions induce some of the most severe reductions in embryo survival and hatching success seen yet among tested fish species. This project has four objectives for revealing the mechanisms underpinning this unusual, high CO₂-sensitivity as well as the ubiquity and genetic basis of this phenomenon.

[1] For the first time, we will rear A. dubius offspring produced from wild spawners to late larval stages at factorial CO₂ × temperature conditions to test whether sand lance larvae are as CO₂-sensitive as embryos.

[2] For the first time, we will use transcriptomic tools (RNAseq, RT-qPCR) to elucidate mechanisms causing ‘CO₂-impaired hatching’, focusing specifically on hatching enzymes, to better understand a newly discovered mortality mechanism due to high CO2 in fishes.

[3] Modern genomic approaches (low-coverage whole genome sequencing; allele frequency shifts, relatedness analyses) will reveal whether high CO₂-sensitivity has a genetic basis in sand lance and could therefore evolve.

[4] And for the first time, we will extend CO₂ × temperature experiments to a congener, the American sand lance (A. americanus), which provides an important scientific contrast between nearshore vs. offshore species CO2-sensitivities and will yield critical insights whether high CO₂-sensitivity is a wider concern within the sand lance family.

Contributions from our lab to the 47th Larval Fish Conference in Huron, OH

NSF-ORCC (Organismal Response to Climate Change): Collaborative Research: Mechanisms underpinning the unusual, high CO2 sensitivity of sand lances, key forage fishes on the Northwest Atlantic Shelf (#2307813, 2023-2026, $1,050,000)

NSF-ORCC (Organismal Response to Climate Change): Collaborative Research: Mechanisms underpinning the unusual, high CO₂ sensitivity of sand lances, key forage fishes on the Northwest Atlantic Shelf (#2307813, 2023-2026, $1,050,000)