Today, I want to share something about a fish known as a logperch and why removing the dam at Graue Mill will do so much good for Salt Creek. If you agree I ask you sign my petition at If you haven’t yet signed the petition, please do and share. https://www.change.org/p/forest-preserve-district-of-dupage-county-restore-salk-creek-preserve-history-of-graue-mill.

Meet Lincoln, a logperch collected in Salt Creek below the Graue Mill dam. Logperch are our largest darters. They are a favorite snack of larger game fish like walleye and northern pike, but they also play a super-important role in the creek ecosystem.

You, see, logperch have an incredible snoot that they use to wedge under rocks to get access to tasty macro invertebrates. If you are a fan of Lion King you can think of logperch as kind of like Timones of the creek, flipping rocks to find treats.

Here's where things get really interesting. Sometimes in their snooting around, a logperch will poke a freshwater mussel. In fact, some mussels have evolved to grab on to a logperch’s nose and shoot larvae into the fish’s gills. When the mussel lets go, the fish swims off.

This is how logperch help to distribute freshwater mussels throughout the creek system. And here’s why that matters: those mussels are absolute powerhouses at sucking nutrients out of water before they turn into harmful algal blooms that crash oxygen levels.

In fact, each mussel is like a mini-water treatment plant and the logperch are the ones who place those treatment plants throughout the system.

Well remember this guy, Lincoln logperch? He can’t get past dams like the one a Graue Mill. So, with the dam there, he can’t spread those mussels to the miles and miles of creek above the dam. Unsurprisingly, water quality above the dam is not great.

But if we work together, we can get that dam removed, and the logperches of Salt Creek can get back to work spreading mussels up and down the waterway, bringing cleaner water to the entire system! So sign today, and share this thread! https://www.change.org/p/forest-preserve-district-of-dupage-county-restore-salk-creek-preserve-history-of-graue-mill

Oh, one more thing. Do you know who likes to eat those mussels, don’t you? Well, you otter!