Project:

A Sea of Names: The Confusion Surrounding the Common Names of Fish

Students:

August Zuzworsky, Ariela Farnham

School:

Home School, Queens

Mentors:

John Zuzworsky

Abstract:

We will cast our fishing lines of inquiry into the sea of knowledge to document the biodiversity of vertebrate fish sold in New York City Greenmarkets. The New York City farmer's markets were developed in the past twenty-five years on the principle of selling local food from sustainable sources. This makes them an ideal place to study the diversity of fish sold for human consumption. The “A” Team will travel to two year-round Greenmarkets and collect samples from each type of fish that is for sale that day. We will then perform DNA Barcoding to determine it's species and then check to make sure it complies with the Department of Commerce Greenmarket Regulations set by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Samples will be collected from two licensed sea-food vendors, once in the winter, and once in the early spring to discover whether there is seasonal variety.

Poster:

Team samples: