Strawberry Darter?

Is this a female Strawberry Darter? Caught in the Strawberry River in north central Arkansas (released after the photos were taken).

I vote, Rainbow Darter...looks like some orange on the anal fin

I had considered the Rainbow Darter, as they are also found in the Strawberry River, but the description in Peterson and the photos of female Rainbow Darters I found on the net suggest more definite vertical bars than shown on this specimen. Also, the descriptions of habitat, both in Peterson and in "Fishes of the Strawberry River System in Northcentral Arkansas" by Robinson and Beadles, suggested Strawberry Darter to me. Robinson and Beadles wrote that Rainbow Darters are "abundant in large riffles of the main river and larger tributaries" while the Strawberry Darter was "common in smaller shallow tributary riffles and pools."The specimen shown was caught in the shallow pool shown in the foreground of following photo.

I am a complete beginner at fish ID, but my original post probably should have given a little background on why I had thought Strawberry Darter.

I thought I had commented on this? Maybe it got deleted? I don't know. Oh well. I only tried to say that blue on the anterior dorsal fin of Etheostoma spectabile usually means male as opposed to female.

I've assumed that this was a female orangethroat, and it has blue on the anterior dorsal fin.

Ben, that is a female orangethroat. The photo from the original poster looks like a rainbow to me, but I am unfamiliar with the strawberry darter.

I thought I had commented on this? Maybe it got deleted? I don't know. Oh well. I only tried to say that blue on the anterior dorsal fin of Etheostoma spectabile usually means male as opposed to female.

Erica, this isn't true. As evidenced in Ben's photo above.

Erica, this isn't true. As evidenced in Ben's photo above.

Ah, learn something new. I only had a half dozen of each gender of Etheostoma spectabile , so I had a small population to look at.

CMStewart, your fish is without a doubt a female rainbow darter (Etheostoma caeruleum). I just spent some time with E. burri and E. uniporum (the latter very similar to E. fragi) and the females are pretty distinctive, especially this time of year (they had a lot of the same blue striping as the males, just not as pronounced -- and the wide dorsal saddles point to rainbow too) . E. caeruleum are crazy abundant in the Ozarks (I'm sure the E. spectabile complex want them extirpated).

Edited by blakemarkwell, 19 March 2013 - 09:44 PM.