Javascript Disabled Detected

You currently have javascript disabled. Several functions may not work. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality.

ID for a darter?

Started by Guest_Daffypuck_* , Aug 03 2013 04:39 AM

Please log in to reply

17 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_Daffypuck_*

Guests

Posted 03 August 2013 - 04:39 AM

Im new to this forum, so forgive me if I leave out any info. I recently explored the creek near my home and caught several fish, snakes and salamanders for a photo-op. Being colr blind, it sometimes makes it hard for me to ID stuff. Just curious if yall can help me ID this darter, or what I think is a darter. Im new to fish, so Im just guessing. The creek was Honey Run creek which is off of the Red river in north central TN, north of Nashville on the KY state line.

Back to top

#2 mattknepley

NANFA Member

Smack-dab between the Savannah and the Saluda.

Posted 03 August 2013 - 05:47 AM

Definitely a darter, but I won't try to id it. I need all the help I can get with my SC darters. From recent pointers I've gotten here on the forum though, I will be as bold to say I think it's a Percina of some type. At any rate, I'm sure you'll have an answer soon, and till then, "Welcome to NANFA!"

Matt Knepley
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."

Back to top

#3 Guest_sbtgrfan_*

Guests

Posted 03 August 2013 - 06:09 AM

Femal Rainbow darter is what it looks like to me

Back to top

#4 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 03 August 2013 - 06:13 AM

I will agree with Matt that there are going to be lots of people on here that can ID your fish. I will disagree with Matt and tell you that it is a darter i the Etheostoma genus. And and instead of guessing myself. Let me give you an excellent resource. The Fishes of Tennessee is available free on line by going to http://www.newfoundp...du/pubs/fishes/

You can download the whole huge book in sections as pdf files. You only need the last section on Perciformes...of which your Etheostoma darter will be one. This is an amazing book that I laid out big bucks for years ago and is now free on the web... download your section and you tell us what you found!

Start looking around page 450

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

Back to top

#5 mattknepley

NANFA Member

Smack-dab between the Savannah and the Saluda.

Posted 03 August 2013 - 03:00 PM

Doh! My daily recommended allowance of humble pie is met for today! Oh well, that's why I swim these guys- I learn (slowly) that way. :biggrin:

Matt Knepley
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."

Back to top

#6 Guest_Skipjack_*

Guests

Posted 03 August 2013 - 03:30 PM

It is one of the most common Etheostoma darters, and one of the most widespread.

Back to top

#7 Guest_Daffypuck_*

Guests

Posted 03 August 2013 - 03:43 PM

Thanks for yalls help. Based on the range, I dont think its a Rainbow darter. And Skipjack, not to be rude, but there are about 100 species of Etheostoma.

If you had to guess, what would think it is?
Micheael, thanks for the recommendation on the book, but someone else beat ya by about 2 days. It is indeed an awesome book to have.

Back to top

#8 Guest_Skipjack_*

Guests

Posted 03 August 2013 - 05:32 PM

We would like to see you ID it. It is not a hard ID, even for somebody new to this fish game. Colors on this female should not be an issue. Start with a process of elimination. I am certain as well that rainbow darters occur in the area that this fish was collected, so do not eliminate that as a possibility quite yet.

Back to top

#9 Guest_Skipjack_*

Guests

Posted 03 August 2013 - 05:43 PM

This may help. Look in the clade Oligocephalus. This is listed after SYSTEMATICS as subgenus in fishes of Tn.

Back to top

#10 Guest_Doug_Dame_*

Guests

Posted 03 August 2013 - 07:29 PM

Doh! My daily recommended allowance of humble pie is met for today!

Amateur.

I eat ten times that much every day, easy, and sometimes much more.

Back to top

#11 Guest_Daffypuck_*

Guests

Posted 04 August 2013 - 12:51 AM

Well, after much reading and collecting of more specimans, Im gonna guess either Redband Darter, Black Darter or Bluebreast Darter. One of the specimans I caught today looked very much like a female Black Darter. I dont have a good picture of it, but compared to all the others I caught, it had very distinctive spotting on the body, much more defined thatn the others. But heck, it could be a male. Until I get a better pic, heres all I have for now.

Back to top

#12 Guest_Daffypuck_*

Guests

Posted 04 August 2013 - 01:28 AM

Whoops, Made a mistake and referred to the wrong range map. You are correct, this too could be a rainbow darter!! I was hoping to find some male specimans today. Do the males color up only when breeding?

Edited by Daffypuck, 04 August 2013 - 01:28 AM.

Back to top

#13 mattknepley

NANFA Member

Smack-dab between the Savannah and the Saluda.

Posted 04 August 2013 - 07:03 AM

Amateur.

I eat ten times that much every day, easy, and sometimes much more.

Matt Knepley
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."

Back to top

#14 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 04 August 2013 - 12:16 PM

Well I don't want to confuse things, but if I was to try to ID these, I would start by saying that i am not sure of the fish in the first two pictures are the same species as the next one... It is hard in some of those systems up there you have a few species so what you see on one day is not what you see on the next day.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

Back to top

#15 Guest_Skipjack_*

Guests

Posted 04 August 2013 - 12:40 PM

The last photo looks to be in the Ulocentra clade.

Back to top

#16 Guest_Skipjack_*

Guests

Posted 04 August 2013 - 03:23 PM

Just a heads up. Tn. is pretty strict about actually collecting fish. So please look into the law. These look like underwater photos, so I will assume that they are. But just for good measure, make sure you have read the rules listed at the top of the ID page.

Back to top

#17 Guest_fundulus_*

Guests

Posted 04 August 2013 - 10:03 PM

Skipjack is right, Tennessee officials will arrest you for collecting fish without a valid permit (and they're hard to get). For the second fish look in the E. duryi clade; there's only one of them in the Red River system as far as I know, .

Back to top

#18 Guest_Daffypuck_*

Guests

Posted 05 August 2013 - 01:24 AM

Well, I just typed out a long response to all alls help and assistance only to accidentally "X" out to go to another window and I accidentally closed my response. Im too lazy this evening to re-type it. So Ill put it in a nutshell. I never realized the delicacy of a simple country stream until I read the above mentioned book and a few of yalls comments. Last eekend I took my GF's nephew out to look for snakes and frogs and inadvertently found myself looking intently at all the fish. I took a 2 1/2 gall fish tank to put fish (or whatever we caught) in to photograph. So, yesterday I went back out to catch more fish and photograph them. Ever since I was a kid I wanted to know what it was I had seen or caught. Not just the generalized name, but precisely what it is. My specialty are birds. So fish are new to me. I never took the time to really get down on my hands and knees to see what lived in the local creek other than a few minnows. Boy, was I wrong.Anyways, that last phot I posted wasnt all that great. Heres a better one. Based onwhat Ive read and researched, theres only one species in this area, the Splendid Darter. Am I right???