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Lythrurus and Nocomis from the Eno River, NC

Started by Guest_catfishcain_* , Nov 07 2013 05:47 PM

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6 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_catfishcain_*

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Posted 07 November 2013 - 05:47 PM

All these fish were caught from the Eno River in the Eno River State Park on Tuesday while micro fishing.
The first shiner I was leaning more towards Lythrurus matutinus mainly because of the dark coloration on the body near the anal fin which I could not see in any pics of Lythrurus ardens. All the shiner pictures are of the same fish.

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Now I wasn't sure if this Nocomis just had messed up scales or might of been a Nocomis X Luxilus hybrid. I caught multiple chubs that day but none had scales quite like this one. This one was actually caught out of Bowling Creek near Roxboro Rd a stone throw away from the main Eno River.

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And one last question. In the Eno River can both the Tessellated Darter and Johnny Darter be found in the Eno or is there just Johnny Darters? I have the fish species list produced by the state park showing the 61 species found in the Eno and it only list the Johnny Darter and not the Tessellated. I caught maybe 4 or 5 darters that are either Etheostoma nigrum or Etheostoma olmstedi. I really can't tell the two apart.

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#2 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 07 November 2013 - 05:54 PM

I can't be of much assistance, but the Nocomis looks like a Nocomis to me. I agree the scales are odd, but other than that it looks correct, don't you think?

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#3 Guest_BenCantrell_*

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Posted 07 November 2013 - 06:00 PM

To me it looks like the chub got roughed up when it was younger, and now the scales are all a bit crooked as a result.

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#4 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 07 November 2013 - 06:13 PM

Lythrurus: L. matutinus is definitely in the Eno, and "should" be the only Lythrurus there. Can I prove your fish isn't ardens? No.
Nocomis: could be either bluehead or bull. ID on those is above my paygrade. need Fritz.
Johnny & Tess: Above my pay grade again; I dont even try to separate those, unless in obvious breeding color. Menhinick's book (1991) shows only Johnny in the upper Neuse (above Falls Dam) and upper Tar, but NC-DWQ samples in that area (by Bryn Tracy & staff) list both species. They could certainly be intergrades too. Jenkins VA book (1994) gives a more complete comparison of Johnny vs Tess.

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#5 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 07 November 2013 - 10:34 PM

To me it looks like the chub got roughed up when it was younger, and now the scales are all a bit crooked as a result.

I agree... I wonder if he looked that way on both sides? Or if he was more evenly spaced on the other side then you could guess that it was a physical damage kind of thing.

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

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#6 Guest_BenCantrell_*

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Posted 08 November 2013 - 09:15 AM

The Eno has some biters! SMB or extra large Roanoke Bass maybe? These two looked like they had narrowly escaped death earlier in their life.

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#7 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 08 November 2013 - 10:58 AM

Heron, kingfisher, northern water snake, or catfish could have ripped off some scales in a failed attack too. There's no smallmouth bass in eastern NC - too warm here. Largemouth is the only Micropterus in the Tar/Neuse basins and most of central/eastern NC, except the Cape Fear basin has introduced spotted bass. Smallmouth are limited to the western 1/3 of NC.