4 replies to this topic

[BenCantrell]

Earlier in the fall, natureman187 and I met up for a leisurely day checking out a couple of east-central Illinois rivers. One cool species we found was bluebreast darter, and they were a county over from their historical range. It's good to see them doing well! Being state endangered, we of course handled them carefully and released them quickly after taking a few photos.







Without giving away the specific location where we found them, here is their historical range.

[swampfish]

Considering how common they are in the Vermilion River in the eastern portion of the state, their known historical distribution, I'm not surprised that they would be found elsewhere. Several years ago, I saw them being used as live bait by some fishermen on that river, so a bait bucket introduction might be the source. Please let Jeremy Tiemann or other Illinois Natural History Survey researcher know of your find.

Phil Nixon

[BenCantrell]

Thanks for the heads up Phil. I just sent Jeremy an email.

[littlen]

a.very.cool.darter.!

Make sure to go back and catch some in the spring when they are all jazzed up! They are on my list of ~250 favorite darter species.

[Isaac Szabo]

Cool fish!