More Spring Creek Darters

Fish #1:





Same fish as previously ID'd as E. spectibile:



E. spectibile female?



Something completely different:





There's at least one more "type" in the tank I haven't gotten a good picture of yet...

The fish in the last two pictures looks like a fantail darter, Etheostoma flabellare.

I'll second the fantail ID. At some point you'll probably also come across sunburst darters, especially if you collect upstream from the Highway 82 bridge. There is not a picture in the Peterson's book, but they look like a stippled darter (E. punctulatum) without the blue stripe. There are probably other darter species in the creek, but orangethroats, fantails, and sunbursts are by far the most common.

I'll third the fantail ID just to add to your confidence on it.

I'll second the fantail ID. At some point you'll probably also come across sunburst darters, especially if you collect upstream from the Highway 82 bridge. There is not a picture in the Peterson's book, but they look like a stippled darter (E. punctulatum) without the blue stripe. There are probably other darter species in the creek, but orangethroats, fantails, and sunbursts are by far the most common.

Thank You! This weekend I was quite a little ways upstream from the 82 bridge. I was back on some private property owned by the head of the Spring Creek Coalition, Jennifer Owens. She was extremely hospitable and friendly and I think we both learned a lot from each other. I got a chance to briefly glance through some of the data and notes that have been previously collected regarding the stream. It was cool to see the raw field data (pencil notes on lined paper) that was used for the 1998 study. There was a lot of raw data there...I am hoping to scan and make the information available via the SCC web site in .pdf format.

Have you ever found a madtom or a killi in that stream yourself? I probably need to get out more than just my little "hand nets" to catch them though...

Seedy where are you located?

I'll fourth the fantail.
nice pictures btw

Seedy where are you located?

I live in Broken Arrow, but I play in the Neosho Drainage in NE Oklahoma

Have you ever found a madtom or a killi in that stream yourself? I probably need to get out more than just my little "hand nets" to catch them though...

I have caught slender madtoms (Noturus exilis) there before. I can't remember if I myself caught any killies in Spring Creek, but I would think blackstripe and blackspotted topminnows should be in there based on their abundance in surrounding areas. I also remember seeing something on the Oklahoma Natural Heritage Inventory website about plains topminnows living in some of the springs that feed the creek.

I think I have a thread somewhere in the photo gallery with some pictures of madtoms and sculpins that were caught in Spring Creek.