Blue River, Indiana
#1 Guest_farmertodd_*
Posted 20 December 2010 - 11:08 PM
We had perfect light for underwater photography, and with the water so low, the fish were very concentrated. It was really difficult at first to get fish to stay in frame, as they only had to swim over a rock and then I could no longer see them. Eventually tho, crawling around bumped enough out of their hiding places to get them to play nice.
Bluebreast_01.jpg 146KB 2 downloads
Bluebreast Darter, Etheostoma camurum
Bluebreast_02.jpg 160.57KB 0 downloads
Bluebreast Darter, Etheostoma camurum
Bluebreast_15.jpg 167.7KB 0 downloads
Bluebreast Darter, Etheostoma camurum
Bluebreast_09.jpg 172.94KB 0 downloads
Bluebreast Darter, Etheostoma camurum - Female
Spotted_Darter_01.jpg 137.28KB 0 downloads
Spotted Darter, Etheostoma maculatum
Spotted_Darter_07.jpg 211.91KB 0 downloads
Spotted Darter, Etheostoma maculatum
Spotted_Darter_11.jpg 159.76KB 0 downloads
Spotted Darter, Etheostoma maculatum - Female
Stonecat_03.jpg 163.53KB 0 downloads
Stonecat Madtom, Noturus flavus
Over the winter, I'll add video to my YouTube site. That was really the real jewel from this day, but it'll take a lot more time to process.
Todd
#2 Guest_daveneely_*
Posted 21 December 2010 - 03:08 PM
Dave
#3 Guest_Carl_*
Posted 21 December 2010 - 06:14 PM
#4 Guest_itsme_*
Posted 21 December 2010 - 06:24 PM
#5 Guest_farmertodd_*
Posted 21 December 2010 - 11:20 PM
Todd
#6 Guest_BTDarters_*
Posted 22 December 2010 - 04:47 AM
Brian
#7 Guest_Carl_*
Posted 24 December 2010 - 04:09 PM
Thanks guys Carl, did you get out much this year? I haven't had a chance to browse back through to see if you'd post anything.
Todd
#8 Guest_natureman187_*
Posted 27 December 2010 - 10:56 PM
Gorgeous scenery.
Gorgeous fish.
Hordes of gorgeous fish...
Gorgeous kick seining technique!
I wasn't as fortunate in my underwater images as a chose to phototank a couple fish first in wake of a darkening sky.
Bluebreast Darter (Etheostoma camurum)
Homo sapien var Todd Crail
It soon became more overcast than my Olympus could handle and I brought back grain and mush. It was a zoo under there for sure - Nothonotus frenzy
#9 Guest_farmertodd_*
Posted 28 December 2010 - 10:31 AM
#10 Guest_jblaylock_*
Posted 28 December 2010 - 11:53 AM
Gorgeous fish.
Is that a Bluebreast or Orangefin on top?
#11 Guest_farmertodd_*
Posted 28 December 2010 - 12:36 PM
I can't remember where the Blue fell out in Ben's analysis of the camurus clade. Ben, Tom?
Todd
#12 Guest_jblaylock_*
Posted 28 December 2010 - 01:17 PM
#13 Guest_farmertodd_*
Posted 28 December 2010 - 01:47 PM
The conditions in the Blue are very similar to the Green, particularly in the lower portions of the stream. There's a lot of infiltration from ground water and springs to the cherty limestone rock. What the Blue lacks is the Green's size - which informs my hypothesis about the absence of tippecanoe darter from the Blue, for example. I expect to do a lot more environmental work in the Blue, Salt and Green in the future. They give me 3 very nice replicates where only a few variables are modified.
Todd
#14 Guest_blakemarkwell_*
Posted 28 December 2010 - 07:19 PM
Were all the male E. camurum sampled that orange? Also, did you guys find any E. variatum (or is that the White?) and did you see any snot otters? I believe the Blue is the last river in Indiana that has a population or two of Cryptobranchus holding on.
Blake
#15 Guest_farmertodd_*
Posted 28 December 2010 - 08:50 PM
Didn't have time to hunt for snot otters. That, I think, will require a float, although the site that Lance has photographed here had siltstone present in some of the units above where the stream was at, which is what produces those monster slabs. So upstream of there might be prime. I'm going to guess tho that it's multimodal and we'll need to find where it's mining the siltstone and has a heavy inflow of springs for thermal stability, and those are further downstream, so far as I know.
Also, Lance, you were supposed to photoshop the gray off my head in the photos. Who is that old guy?!?
Todd
Edited by farmertodd, 28 December 2010 - 09:36 PM.
#16 Guest_Irate Mormon_*
Posted 28 December 2010 - 09:44 PM
Didn't have time to hunt for snot otters.
Hah! Snot Otters indeed! I've never heard them called that, but it is very appropriate
#17 Guest_farmertodd_*
Posted 28 December 2010 - 10:18 PM
Also, I see I forgot to answer your variatum question... They're only in the Whitewater River (Great Miami River drainage). They only have been found in streams that were part of the Old Kentucky River and Teays River systems (Pre-Wisconsinin systems). They may have been found in the Blue River and the mainstem of the Ohio in that area pre-impoundment (spotted darter were just recently known from there!)... But post-impoundment, there may not have been enough patch to sustain them in the disturbance, as were other stream arms along that stretch (or other streams to the east like Kinnickinick and Ohio Brush Creeks). The lower Wabash may have been too low of productivity during outwash (banded darter are also absent) and then became alluvial too quickly once the meltwater stopped.
Those are just arm chair hypotheses though. That's one species I'd like also to get my head around better. Those dang things move around so much through the year, and once we get telemetry a little smaller, they might be a good candidate species.
Todd
#18 Guest_fundulus_*
Posted 28 December 2010 - 10:50 PM
#19 Guest_blakemarkwell_*
Posted 29 December 2010 - 03:09 AM
In regards to snot otters -- I've heard that used quite a few times. It seems to be quite popular if it was started by a single NANFA member.
Thanks for clearing up the IN distribution of E. variatum; I will have to look more into the Teays River system, as all the information I've been able to find involves how geologist have used multifarious evidence to reconstruct the Teays River network pre-glaciation and little on its remnants post-glaciation. That's an interesting hypothesis in regards to the effects of impoundment on E. zonale distribution and how that could correlate with E. variatum being wiped out in the Blue (if they ever existed there).
Blake
Edited by blakemarkwell, 29 December 2010 - 03:09 AM.
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