3 replies to this topic

[mattknepley]

Conducted a census of the stock tank pond yesterday. Not normally something I'd do in July, but it was only getting to the high 70s (8zillion% humidity, but take the win where you can)and I was curious to see how things were going in there.

This charmin' fella below came from a drainage here in SC that houses bullheads of both the Snail and Flat persuasion. It was cute as the dickens, and since none of the bullheads it could be are listed, I brought it home. He's been in the pond a couple years now, and has been growing pretty good. Never seemed to get a good enough look or picture to feel confident calling it one or the other up till now. But I think the following two looks are enough to nail it down as a Snail...

With advance apologies for pictures of non-microscopic,actually-in-focus pictures...

 DSCN3646.JPG   95.9KB   1 downloads

 DSCN3643.JPG   115.64KB   1 downloads

Whatcha think?

[gerald]

Anal ray count and barbel pigment are the two main differences; see Fritz's book.  I'd lean toward snail, but more closeups of anal fin (" count all rays, even smallest rudiments"), maxillary barbels and chin barbels would help confirm it.

[mattknepley]

Thanks, Gerald. I blew the picture up, and when I tried to estimate how many more anal fin rays were hiding in there, I couldn't get the estimated count high enough to be a Flat. I was hoping the little bit of barbels we got in the second pic were enough to help confirm... Looks like my photography prowess haunts us still!

[Dustin]

Barbel looks snail to me.  Flat would be obviously bi-colored.