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[mattknepley]

Spent a little time on what has turned out to be a pretty interesting headwater type "stream". As far as I know, this little crick has no name. It drains beef grazing area and the back side of Ninety Six National Historic Site. (I was not on NHS property.) In times of normal rain the creek flows, barely, over a dirt road in one spot. During low rain it is reduced to a trickle, and during the recent drought only deeper pools remained. With the substantial rains we've been having this summer in my corner of SC the water at the crossing was the highest I've seen it. Even so, I didn't have much hope for it, but my visit was productive; especially considering I didn't get more than 40' or so from the road crossing.



Immediately upstream of the crossing is a pool about 35' or so long. There was a surprisingly deep channel through it, given the pool's modest size and water flow. Turned up a largemouth bass, three creek chubsuckers, some sunfish, and a young adult bullfrog. And a modest population of Eastern gambusia.



I wonder how large that bass might grow. It still looks pretty young, but since the creek was dried up to the point up (until maybe last year) where he couldn't have swum upstream over the road, I'm guessing its parents are somewhere close by. Downed tree branches and very slightly undercut banks provided in-stream cover. The bottom was either clay or small gravel.

Downstream from the crossing it is a whole different environment. The downstream side of the road crossing acts as a tailrace of sorts. Immediately off the crossing the water moves (relatively) quickly. It was the only place I could see a current without having to toss in a blade of grass. Below the outflow, there was an algae occupied tongue of gravel/rock/silt. There are a couple shallow pools, but mostly it is shallow flowing water. Dominant cover was emergent plant life. Any guesses on the one with the spear shaped leaves?



The dipnetting was good here, too. The plants grew almost a foot out into the "tailrace". From the grass and other plants in the current I pulled two Carolina darters (Etheostoma collis) and six yellow bullheads (Ameiurus natalis) in just four or five passes of the net! Too bad bullheads grow up to be such brutes, they're cute little buggers when they're little! In a shallow pool below the tailrace I caught two more E. collis and a bullfrog tad.



So there you have it. The write up is bigger than the stream. Nothing fancy, but it was still fun to get out and to have something to share!

[mattknepley]

Bullfrog is a green frog. See the skin folds running down its sides from the eyes back. Green's have these Bull's don't.

Right you are! I knew bullfrogs have many black spots when they are young that they lose as they age. Keyed in on those and not that fold. Thanks for the correcton. Reckon the tad to be a green then, as well?

[mattknepley]

Thanks, Blake. Based on their similar appearances I was assuming that tad and frog were one and the same species. Should've known better than to do that. I've been encouraged by the numbers of amphibians I've been turning up this year. Maybe I ought to invest in that Peterson's.

Gerald, thanks for the plant ID. (And five "u"s is going to be tough to beat. Or do you have one already?) I figured the same on the sunfish. Almost asked, but don't really have a better pic and I've already posted enough juvie sunnie id requests... As for the E. collis eyes, I haven't really noticed, but I haven't really looked for it. Give me a day or two to look at them with that in mind. I have four; one is very bold and has been from the beginning. One just overcame its shyness. The two newbies still spend most of their time hiding in a thick wad of java moss. Will enjoy getting an answer for you. They might not be boldly colored, but I find the complexity and subtlety of their pattern beautiful.

[mattknepley]

What about the humuhumunukunukuapua'a triggerfish? Tought to beat 9 u's.

I hadn't thought about Hawaiian words, either. I do think that is our winner! Funny note; back in my early 20's I dated a girl who was born and raised in HI. I learned a bunch of Hawaiian words before she introduced me to her mom in an attempt to gain maternal favor. That was one of them. I still remember bugging my gf to tell me if I pronounced it right, and being so stupid proud of myself when I did!

[mattknepley]

Had a chance to look at those Carolina darter eyes a little more closely, Gerald. I tried to look at them on their own, and then also compare them to other fishes. If your Cape Fear E. collis have eyes with a green reflective haze such as found in many walleye pictures, then the answer is no. (Caveat, I've never seen a walleye in person.) There is, however, something to that effect about them, though it is rather subtle. Their eyes aren't clear, like most others. They leave me with an impression of being cloud or smoke filled. There is a sense of "depth" to their eyes most other fishes don't have. Still, you have to look closely to see where the iris ends and the pupil begins. Weirdly, their eyes seem to simultaneously absorb and dull the light they receive, if that makes sense. That said, at certain angles there does appear to be a thin reflective haze to them. (Caveat here; the lighting in their tank at this time leaves much to be desired.)

Except for the walleye reference, I tried to only compare/contrast the Carolina darter eyes to other fishes that I could view at same time; namely their fellow tank mates. The only fish whose eyes were similar to any degree were the Creek Chubsucker's, and that similarity didn't go past sharing an eye that was more solidly colored than most others. The Carolina darter eyes contrasted most with the Piedmont darter's (Percinal crassa) eyes. Their eyes seem to emit their own light. Their irises are very clear and sharply defined as well. In between fall the E. olmstedi and E. hopkinsi eyes. The Cyprinella chloristia's eyes would fall somewhere in between, too. If I had to put them in order from "darkest/most clouded/hazy" to "brightest/clearest" I guess I'd line 'em up as follows: E. collis, Erimyzon oblongus, E hopkinsi, C. chloristia, E. olmstedi, P. crassa.

Don't know if this answered your question. Let me know if there is something else you were looking for.

Now in the meantime, I have to try to get rid of this song I now have stuck in my head, "She's got E. collis eyes..."

[mattknepley]

The eyes on that lower one look pretty close to mine. Never seen them so green as the one in the top picture, but I will be looking a little more closely, and more often, now.