Fascinating Animals of Schoodic

Photo by Jenny Venturo

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While staying at Schoodic Peninsula in Acadia National Park, Maine, we saw quite a few animals. Keep reading to learn about some of them.

Pollock are a cod species that live in the waters off of New England. Pollock live in schools over rocks and sometimes feed at the surface. A pollock’s diet consists of fish, especially sand eels. We discovered this when we were fishing from the rocks at Schoodic. Hundreds of pollock were involved in a huge feeding frenzy, tearing apart a school of sand eels. We immediately cast into the fray, and for the next half hour, we caught pollock after pollock. Several of them were so full of sand eels that they regurgitated them onto the rocks when we pulled them up!

Never be like a pollock—they give in to every temptation that comes their way! Instead, read your Bible and trust Jesus to keep your heart clean!

Photo by Jenny Venturo

The next Schoodic animal I want to talk about is the porcupine. Porcupines live in most of the West, the Great Lakes area, and New England. They eat leaves, twigs, and bark from trees, along with a few other plants. Porcupines are covered with loose quills that can be whacked into a predator. Some predators are a little too smart, though. The main one, the fisher, can flip over a porcupine without getting spined to get at its unprotected middle. Some other porcupine predators include bobcats, coyotes, and cougars.

We saw lots of porcupines in the woods of Schoodic Peninsula, mainly in the evening or night.

We should be defensive against temptation, just like porcupines are defensive against predators!

Photo by Paul Venturo

The last animal I will discuss is called the Atlantic Mackerel. These speedy fish are very common in large schools off of New England. Feeding on fish and other small creatures, mackerel sometimes frenzy just like pollock.

We caught many of these feisty fish at a couple of spots around Schoodic Peninsula.

Atlantic Mackerel are very similar to Atlantic Chub Mackerel, another mackerel that grows slightly larger and has minute differences in the markings on its back.

Atlantic Mackerel can swim fast to get away from danger. We can do this too when temptations come!

Photo by Daniel Venturo

Next time you’re out in Creation, look for your own creatures. God has certainly made us quite a lot of wild and wonderful animals, hasn’t He?

Information from:

Gilbert, Carter R., and James D. Williams. National Audubon Society Field Guide to Fishes. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983.

Whitaker, John O., Jr. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, 1980.