Field work update: Nerodio!

Greetings from Lake Erie! We're in the midst of "Nerodio", a 2-week long field survey for Lake Erie watersnakes across their habitat islands in Lake Erie. The name is a take off of Nerodia, which is the genus of the watersnake! In the past week, we've caught over 200 snakes, many of whom have lesions consistent with snake fungal disease, aka ophidiomycosis. We're measuring the prevalence of the disease at 5 different sites and taking health data, including blood samples and skin swabs and we're working with biologists from all over the country to capture snakes and collect the data, which has been a ton of fun. Lake Erie watersnakes are notoriously feisty, so they fight back when caught by biting and releasing musk: we measure the success of our daily work by the smell of snake musk on our arms and clothes, so a good day is a smelly day!