Two collecting trips to two different parts of my state in seven days? That's a pretty good week!
Last week we were up in the mountains. Today I was able to make a fast visit to another spot I like; Edgefield County's Beaverdam Creek. I only had a couple hours before I'd have to make the 45 minute trip home to pick up the girls from school. So I worked quickly, by my standards, and covered a reasonable amount of water. I was excited to add two new fish to my "life list", to see some fish I expected to see, and find the usual surprise or two along the way...
Late last year I learned about Beaverdam Creek from an archived NANFA trip report. My daughters and I first checked it out this January. Today, on my own, I revisited the spot we liked best.
I accessed the stream from a blue highway bridge. The bridge seems to draw a dividing line across the river. Downstream the banks climb higher while the water flattens and slows. Upstream the water is quicker and more riffly, with much lower banks. First sampled was the upstream portion.
The view upstream
On the way in I saw a plant I hadn't ever seen before. It was literally rough around the edges, but had an aesthetic I rather enjoyed. I didn't notice the spider until I got home and saw the pictures.
The trip started out quite promisingly. My very first dip of the net brought up a pair of youngish creek chubsuckers, Erimyzon obolongus. I hadn't ever seen them before, and found them interesting. Both had a case of black spot disease. In fact I have only ever pulled two fish out of this stream that didn't have at least a few of those parasites-in-waiting on them. Which I find a little odd, as I have never seen or heard any fish-eating birds around there. No herons, kingfishers, egrets, nuthin... I have also never seen a snail in that waterway, although I have seen the paths they clear on the rocks. Since snails and fish-eating birds are key components to this parasite's life cycle, it seems they would be more in evidence. At any rate, one of them sure had it worse than the other.
A short while later, next to a bank that was basically a boulder, working a hole where shallow riffles dropped into pool, I came up with my next life fish, pirate perch, Aphredoderus sayanus. What these guys lacked in color, they made up for with personality. One was very dark, with that purplish sheen they only show when the sun hits them just right. They other was more of a pale brown color. These are the only two fish I have seen in this stream that did not have black spot. That I noticed anyway, it'd be hard to see on the darker one. I imagine with that great big mouth they are able to take some pretty large prey, relative to their body size. On the other hand, having to poop out your throat might be an incentive to keep meals small.
(Adult pirate perch have anuses in their throat area.) Before I saw this fish in person, I couldn't see why native fish folks tend to be fond of them. I mean, honestly, they don't photograph all that well. But having met them in the field, they have style points to spare, and I'd love to be able to add some to my collection some day. Also shown is where they were collected. They were between the roots of the fallen tree and the rock wall, in the pocket between the boulders. 
Just upstream from those two pirate perch, I caught a smaller, in-between colored specimen. That one did not have to endure a photo shoot. Also spared the paparazzi was a decent sized madtom, who slipped out of my dipnet while I was adding water to my photo tank. Didn't get the best look at him, and since he was about five inches long, and a uniform light brown, he could be just about any of the madtoms endemic to that portion of South Carolina. A fish I fully expected to encounter, but didn't, was bluehead chub, Nocomis leptocephalus. They were the most common fish in January, but nowhere to be seen today.
A fish not new to me, but new to me here, was the tesselated darter, Etheostoma olmstedi. I turned up two, both of which I presumed to be female. They were both noticeably distended in the belly, which I hope is an indication of breeding. Although, looking at this girl's underside, I have some misgivings about that notion. She had three lesions, at least that is the best I can describe them, in the area of her branchiostegal rays (did I get that right?). I also was not convinced that the black arch under her stomach was just food in the process of digestion that was close enough to the surface to be seen.
Only one other darter was seen today, but it is one of my favorites, Etheostoma hopkinsi, the Christmas darter. A total of eight, four males, four females, were netted in shallow riffles. All were also taken in close proximity to fairly thick patches of different aquatic vegetation. (None of which I can identify or photograph.) A couple females had the same black arc on their bellies that the tessie had. I hoped it was "poop in process", but continue to have doubts. Only one picture of these fish is even half worth presenting, which is a shame because the males are particularly pretty in their green and red stripes. Although the boys' colors weren't much different than what I saw here in January, the girls were noticeably darker, with a deep chocolate brown all but covering their stripes.
Other than fish, aquatic life turned up included numerous crayfish, of all range of sizes, and occupying every last niche in the stream. This grouchy beast actually managed to give me a quick pinch with the only claw at its disposal. Fortunately it didn't get a solid grip and I shook it off quickly! That poor cray must've had a rough time of it lately, because in addition to its missing claw, it also had forfeited a leg. In the hopes that it can be identified, I took a couple photos of its ventral and dorsal areas. As can be seen, they came out awfully, but maybe there's enough there that someone can work with. Following the pictures of the large crayfish is a photo of the ventral region of a much smaller cray. That creature was much more cooperative, and took a better picture.
Also in attendance today were many larval to nearly adult salamanders. I am encouraged by the number of salamanders I have seen so far this year. If amphibians are the bellweather they are supposed to be, that's good news!
With about half an hour remaining before I had to leave, I worked a portion of water downstream from the bridge. I hope by looking carefully you can see just how high the banks rise. The water here, as mentioned above, is slower and flatter, as well as warmer. It definitely gets more sun than the upstream section. I dipped a couple hundred feet, but only took two fish. Surprisingly to me, they were Christmas darters. Given the difference in the waters, I did not expect them. I did expect more fish, though. Perhaps I suffered from not having a seine, but I wonder if there isn't more to my lack of success than that. There weren't many crayfish or salamanders, either. On the up-side, the scenery was great and I saw the most beautiful, sweet smelling undergrowth tree.
So, there you have it. My native fish sneak-away for the day. It only spanned two or three hours, but I loved it, and learned from it. Just like every trip to the water!
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