5 replies to this topic

[WheelsOC]

Hi, folks! Long time no see! Finally got my camera(s) wet and found some nifty fishes to shot, but I can't quite pin down the species. They're in situ (dunked my phone into the creek), no specimen tank, and the current kept messing with my touch screen controls, causing random changes in the zoom level.

 

The location is a small semi-urban creek in northern Anderson, in the Upper Savannah watershed. I can get more specific if it's helpful. Not sure if I should give away the location, but it's north of Homeland Park and south of Northlake.

 

https://youtu.be/QT9QkYnYVUc

 

And some still-frames if they help at all:

 

 

Clearly, some of them have red on the pectoral, pelvic, anal, and dorsal fins. There seems to be some slight red on the tip of the snout but I haven't been able to tell if that's real or just an artefact of the video compression. I'm leaning towards N. lutipinnis? If so they're not in breeding colors yet. They were also on the small side, maybe two inches long. I keep a tape measure in my pocket for casual herping but this time I didn't want to spook the fish any more than they already were. It was surprising that they stayed as out in the open as this, to be honest.

 

Came back to the spot later and got more footage with an Olympus TG5, but the imagery came out a bit sharper and with better color from my phone. Also this clip is shorter to spare y'all the bandwidth. I might see if the TG5 footage is worth posting in the Photo/Video forum...

[Michael Wolfe]

looks very much like yellowfin shiners... unless you are in range for a different hydrophlox (redlip, greenhead, piedmont)?

[WheelsOC]

For Greenheads: Freshwater Fishes of South Carolina doesn't have a dot in this region, FishMap  doesn't list it in the watershed. Looks like it's mostly restricted to the Catawba, Saluda, Broad, etc. watersheds that are further east.

Redlip: According to FFoSC they look to be more of a small bit of north-eastern SC up around the fall line in the Pee Dee drainage, and USGS backs that up. Anderson is almost all the way across the state to the west. So geographically maybe we can rule that out, unless these are some exceptionally well-traveled bait bucket refugees.

Piedmont: since it's not officially described, I don't think they've pinned it to a specific watershed but most of what I can find indicates it's in in the Broad and not the Savannah.

 

 

For reference, I found these in the upper-red band on the left side:

 

 

 

And yeah, I have that excellent book but it's still a challenge for me to pin down features. Lack of experience, I guess.

[UncleWillie]

I'm with Michael regarding the yellowfins.  They have a wide distribution and they've been moved across drainages as well.  They has a pretty strong presence surrounding Lake Hartwell.

[WheelsOC]

I'm with Michael regarding the yellowfins.  They have a wide distribution and they've been moved across drainages as well.  They has a pretty strong presence surrounding Lake Hartwell.

I'll take it!
Of course, I guess this means I'll have to keep an eye on this creek and see if we can get some nuptial colors to really cinch the ID later in the season...

[fritz]

Yep, Yellowfins in the Savannah.  They should be colored up by now.  Keep checking.