Jump to content


Photo

Brackish Sampling 06/18/2017


19 replies to this topic

#1 Chasmodes

Chasmodes
  • NANFA Member
  • Central Maryland

Posted 19 June 2017 - 11:54 AM

My daughter and I made a trip over to the Eastern Shore of Maryland to sample some of the brackish public access points yesterday.  We checked out 5 spots, but only three of them had decent access to collect.  We were restricted to keeping dry because she just had a surgical procedure recently that precluded her from making contact with Chesapeake Bay water.   However, the extensions for my Perfect Dipnet arrived on Friday (thanks Mark!), just in time for our first trip, making it much easier to collect from the docks than my previous trip, where I had to get on my knees on the dock to reach the substrate.  

 

We were hoping to check out a few more spots, but returning beach traffic limited us.  So, we didn't quite find the oyster habitat that we were looking for, however, we managed to find spots that had a lot of shucked or dead razor clam shells and a few oyster and clam shells mixed in.  This resulted in us finding our targeted species, however, all of them were juveniles. 

 

Lots of razor clams.  Hiding in there is a small skilletfish (see if you can find it).  We caught a bunch of them yesterday, but the biggest one was only about an inch long at the most:

IMG_7558_zpswgf6vszx.jpg

 

We netted a bunch of grass shrimp and rock crabs of some sort that were tiny like this one but up to about the size of a quarter.  My daughter enjoyed letting the crawl around in her hand:

IMG_7446_zpsmv9kkhqd.jpg

 

Grass shrimp:

IMG_7522_zpshl7eyshj.jpg

 

We caught a few blue crabs, but no keepers (we weren't planning to keep any of them anyway).  If you look closely, you can see another skilletfish and a silverside.

IMG_7451_zpsafvaie7d.jpg

 

The crabs claws are pointed right at them:

IMG_7451%20-%20Copy_zpslfsvcx49.jpg

 

We caught a bunch of silversides too:

IMG_7556_zpsdlxbdsu1.jpg

 

The next most common fish that we caught were striped killifish:

IMG_7513_zps1qeklinu.jpg

 


Kevin Wilson


#2 Chasmodes

Chasmodes
  • NANFA Member
  • Central Maryland

Posted 19 June 2017 - 12:04 PM

We also caught a couple sheepshead minnows.  Here's a nice male:

IMG_7553_zpsh2hfhm1h.jpg

 

...and a few mummichogs (I think that's what these are):

IMG_7472_zpsft4xeh5l.jpg

 

I'm not sure what kind of killifish this is.  Anyone know?  Rainwater killifish maybe?  The specific gravity was about 1.012.

 

IMG_7481_zpsryzb1th2.jpg

 

 

 

 


Kevin Wilson


#3 Dustin

Dustin
  • Forum Staff

Posted 19 June 2017 - 12:11 PM

Yes, your last killi is a rainwater.


Dustin Smith
At the convergence of the Broad, Saluda and Congaree
Lexington, SC


#4 Chasmodes

Chasmodes
  • NANFA Member
  • Central Maryland

Posted 19 June 2017 - 12:12 PM

More shots of a skilletfish (Gobiesox strumosus):

IMG_7482_zpsorp7tanl.jpg

 

A good shot of the "suction cup" that allows them to cling to the insides of shells and other cover:

IMG_7489_zpsg2j2ug55.jpg

 

Pictured here next to one of the two naked gobies (Gobiosoma bosc) that we caught:

IMG_7494_zpsucio7ayy.jpg

 

Both gobies together:

IMG_7483_zpsig8miaho.jpg

 

I was also quite pleased to find a four-spined stickleback (Apeltes quadracus):

IMG_7551_zpse7gpmvff.jpg

IMG_7531_zpsyluikuj9.jpg

IMG_7457_zps1jxjarjy.jpgIMG_7464_zpsqcpfy8pp.jpg

 

 

 

 


Kevin Wilson


#5 Chasmodes

Chasmodes
  • NANFA Member
  • Central Maryland

Posted 19 June 2017 - 12:17 PM

Thank you Dustin!

 

And I've saved the best for last, a striped blenny (Chasmodes bosquianus), my first one this year.  This fish was only about 1.3 cm long at the most.  I wanted so much to take him home and throw him in a 10 gallon but don't have a tank cycled.  I wouldn't want to stress a fish out like that even if I brought all Bay water home along with some macro algae.  So, I'll be sure to have one ready for next time.  It was the only blenny that we caught on this trip, but we didn't get skunked on our targeted species, so that is good!

 

Ain't he (or she) cute?

IMG_7505_zps5way5tsr.jpg

 

Bad picture :(

IMG_7496_zpsibj2szou.jpg

 

Here's a much better shot:

IMG_7500_zpsgtsrgx8f.jpg


Kevin Wilson


#6 Dustin

Dustin
  • Forum Staff

Posted 19 June 2017 - 12:17 PM

It's funny how different your juvenile striped killifish look from the ones further south.  Our's have much a more uniform pattern.


Dustin Smith
At the convergence of the Broad, Saluda and Congaree
Lexington, SC


#7 Chasmodes

Chasmodes
  • NANFA Member
  • Central Maryland

Posted 19 June 2017 - 01:01 PM

Yeah, I thought that the coloration was a bit odd and was thinking that they were females.  Do they all look the same as juvies then change the stripe pattern?


Kevin Wilson


#8 mattknepley

mattknepley
  • NANFA Member
  • Smack-dab between the Savannah and the Saluda.

Posted 19 June 2017 - 04:21 PM

Great stuff, Kevin. Hope your daughter is healing up well; glad you two could get out. That Chasmodes blenny is a cutie, but I'm kinda taken with the Naked Goby.
Matt Knepley
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."

#9 MtFallsTodd

MtFallsTodd
  • NANFA Member
  • Mountain Falls, Virginia

Posted 19 June 2017 - 07:15 PM

Great catch, the skilletfish have really neat personalities in an aquarium.
Deep in the hills of Great North Mountain

#10 zooxanthellae

zooxanthellae
  • NANFA Member
  • North Carolina

Posted 19 June 2017 - 07:42 PM

It's funny how different your juvenile striped killifish look from the ones further south.  Our's have much a more uniform pattern.

 

Agreed, I thought for sure he had misidentified them at first glance! Pretty neat. 



#11 Chasmodes

Chasmodes
  • NANFA Member
  • Central Maryland

Posted 20 June 2017 - 07:15 AM

I concluded that the irregular stripe pattern around the tail and the variable spacing of the stripes seemed more like Fundulus majalis than any other of that genus found in Maryland.  But, I could be wrong.  I'm open for suggestions :)


Kevin Wilson


#12 Chasmodes

Chasmodes
  • NANFA Member
  • Central Maryland

Posted 20 June 2017 - 07:16 AM

Great catch, the skilletfish have really neat personalities in an aquarium.

 

Thanks Todd.  I'm happy that I found the skilletfish mother load and a good spot to stock my tank.  I had one years ago that was very tame, always came to the front stuck to the glass to feed out of my hand.  I fed him first to make sure that the greedy saltwater fish that I had at the time didn't get the food first.


Kevin Wilson


#13 Dustin

Dustin
  • Forum Staff

Posted 20 June 2017 - 08:12 AM

I concluded that the irregular stripe pattern around the tail and the variable spacing of the stripes seemed more like Fundulus majalis than any other of that genus found in Maryland.  But, I could be wrong.  I'm open for suggestions :)

Are there Fundulus luciae up there?  These look more slender than our majalis too.  I wonder if these may be little luciae?


Dustin Smith
At the convergence of the Broad, Saluda and Congaree
Lexington, SC


#14 gerald

gerald
  • Global Moderator
  • Wake Forest, North Carolina

Posted 20 June 2017 - 08:39 AM

I like Dustin's theory ... maybe luciae?  That would be cool -- they're usually the hardest-to-find Fundulus.


Gerald Pottern
-----------------------
Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel


#15 Chasmodes

Chasmodes
  • NANFA Member
  • Central Maryland

Posted 20 June 2017 - 08:52 AM

Yes, that would be cool.

 

According to the document linked below, they can be found in the Chesapeake Bay system:

 

http://www.chesapeak...species2007.pdf

 

I also considered maybe they could have been F. lineolatus.  My only thought is that the stripes on these fish are so irregular compared to lineolatus and luciae.  Plus, there isn't any other coloration or markings on them.  And the snout seems more like striped killis.  I don't know...I'm confused ](*,)  

 

The stripes kind of resemble sheepshead minnow markings, but I caught sheepshead minnow juvies and they look like miniature versions of the adults, pupfish style.


Kevin Wilson


#16 zooxanthellae

zooxanthellae
  • NANFA Member
  • North Carolina

Posted 20 June 2017 - 12:37 PM

I like Dustin's theory ... maybe luciae?  That would be cool -- they're usually the hardest-to-find Fundulus.

 

I second this. The head length/shape isn't sitting right with me either, based on what I can see anyway. For comparison, here are adults and a juvenile from NC. (Please overlook the fact that I spelled "striped" incorrectly :) )

 

F-majalis-infographic.png

Fundulus-majalis-Juvenile.png



#17 Chasmodes

Chasmodes
  • NANFA Member
  • Central Maryland

Posted 20 June 2017 - 02:07 PM

Yeah, you guys might be right.  At first I thought that there weren't any spots on the fins.  But in the first pic here, it looks like the spot is there but the fins are folded down.  The stripes don't match either match though.  Any chance these hybridize?

 

Or, is it a juvenile phase that nobody has pics to compare to?

 

Here are a couple more pics.  I wish that I had better ones.  I see the problem with the box that I'm using, the rounded corners distort the images.

 

IMG_7509_zpsl36m5xkc.jpg

 

IMG_7518_zpski4zgv5z.jpg


Kevin Wilson


#18 gerald

gerald
  • Global Moderator
  • Wake Forest, North Carolina

Posted 20 June 2017 - 03:15 PM

Absotively posilutely NOT lineolatus.  

Marsh killie (pulvereus/confluentus or whatever) would be my next best guess after spotfin (luciae).


Gerald Pottern
-----------------------
Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel


#19 Chasmodes

Chasmodes
  • NANFA Member
  • Central Maryland

Posted 20 June 2017 - 03:27 PM

Thank you Gerald.  I almost want to set up a tank for them to see what they grow up to look like   :tongue:


Kevin Wilson


#20 lilyea

lilyea
  • NANFA Member
  • Peace River Watershed, Central Florida, USA

Posted 20 June 2017 - 06:30 PM

Thank you Gerald.  I almost want to set up a tank for them to see what they grow up to look like   :tongue:

 

 

I definitely think that you should grow them out and work on breeding them!  I am working with a few species of salt/brackish killies now and enjoying the challenge!





Reply to this topic



  


0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users