13 replies to this topic

[Michael Wolfe]

Since you say Georgia (and I am in Georgia) and the dace previously mentioned is not a Georgia fish as far as I know, I would say that I think the fish is a creek chub. I zoomed in a little on the picture, adn there seems to be a nice black line down the side and lighter colored lips. Based on the size that I think it is, they usually have a fairly strong black line. If you can't get a better picture, something you can look for is a small dark (maybe even reddish) spot right where the dorsal fin attaches to the body. If that small spot is there then it is probably a creek chub.

If you can get a clearer picture we can be even more sure.

My neighbor emailed me this picture of a fish she found in a creek in Georgia. I think this would be in the upper Ocmulgee watershed. She said she found it hiding amongst the leaves on the creek bottom. Does anyone have any idea what it might be? Oh the fish in question is the fish in the front of the picture.
Thanks!
Christine

[Michael Wolfe]

Good reference... thanks scottefontay... I was just going on my expereince and her reference to the Ocmulgee (I don't think I've ever encountered one and natureserve didn't list it in the drainage). Not sure how far north we are talking about in the upper Ocmulgee, but my thoughts were that this is really just NE Atlanta suburbs... not really cool enough waters for the dace in question. Looking at the rivers mentioned in your reference, I'm going to stick with my guess... but your right about the "Georgia fish" comment that I made and I stand corrected.

For what its worth...<a href="http://www.dnr.sc.go...ountUPlain.pdf" target="_blank">
</a>
http://www.dnr.sc.go...MountUPlain.pdf

At the top of page 3, reference is made to the blacknosed dace in Georgia.

[Michael Wolfe]

Let us know if you can get the fish... we all love a good mystery... and the best kind is one that we can actually solve... which would be made a lot easier with a better photo ... I also appreciate your understanding of the problems that could be caused by re-introducing the fish back into the stream.

Thank you. She mentioned she was going to put it back in the creek. As you can see, she tanked it with her petstore bought tropicals. I asked her to give it to me rather than put it back in the creek as I was worried about it carrying "stuff" from her tank to the creek. If she decides to give it to me, I will get a better photo for identification. She says its about 3 inches.

[Michael Wolfe]

Hey Mike, yeah, I thought the same thing, and there are stonerollers around here... in fact there are supposed to be bluefin stonerollers in the Ocmulgee... but I usually see a fairly dark cresent behind the gill plate on a stoneroller, that I can't see any hint of in the photo... who knows, but I agree that is another good idea.

It looks a bit like a stoneroller minnow female or non breeding young male. Don't usually have the stripe that dark but I've seen a few. But it is hard to see clearly. Don't know if that's even a possibility in that area.

[Michael Wolfe]

Hey Christine, there are a number of shiners that will look rather red this time of year... and some of those have lighter colored fins... in fact there are so many that I could not really guess what she is seeing... without seeing one... if they are shiners, they will be pretty fast this time of year and you will likely need a seine to catch more than just a few... but they are also fun to keep (my favorist actually are shiners... yellowfins from around here... up by Athens, Georgia).

There is apparantly some fish that she saw in the creek that she says looks red & white that she is trying to catch. I told her next time to just put back any fish that she had no intentions of keeping and if she was undecided to put them in a container with creek water and nothing thats been in contact with her fish so that she could put them back in the creek once she decided. I'll work on that photo. The creek is actually SE of Atlanta.