So...my intent was to hopefully find a couple of stonerollers or darters..but what I DID find, was something I posted about a few days ago, a pair of killies, I think.
What do you guys think?
Bait tank refugees...
Started by
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, Jan 04 2008 08:17 PM
23 replies to this topic
#1
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Posted 04 January 2008 - 08:17 PM
Ok, I work in a large retail outdoor store, and today decided to do something I've wanted to do for a long time, and that is to go seining in the bait tank:D
So...my intent was to hopefully find a couple of stonerollers or darters..but what I DID find, was something I posted about a few days ago, a pair of killies, I think.
What do you guys think?
So...my intent was to hopefully find a couple of stonerollers or darters..but what I DID find, was something I posted about a few days ago, a pair of killies, I think.
What do you guys think?
#5
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Posted 04 January 2008 - 10:48 PM
I was thinking banded also. I also agree, they are more then half starved...indeed, I'm not at all sure they will pull through(although other then the starvation, they appear to be generally healthy). I water is ice cold in the bait tank, so I am housing them temporarily in a 5 gallon bucket with a baseball sized clump of excess java moss, until I have the time to property acclimate them. I tried when I got them home, but the difference between the tank and the water they came from, was just too great, and they were going into shock. The bucket is kept on a cold cement floor in the wash room, so it's at least 10 degrees cooler then the tank...and they are fine in there so far.
Our minnow guy is local, and I'll have to ask him where he trapped that batch. I also found several very small perch, and a rockbass in there(put those in the filter tank, thinking maybe they will make it until I can find a home for them!)
Our minnow guy is local, and I'll have to ask him where he trapped that batch. I also found several very small perch, and a rockbass in there(put those in the filter tank, thinking maybe they will make it until I can find a home for them!)
#6
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Posted 04 January 2008 - 10:52 PM
fundulus.... not that it's likely wise to argue killies with a guy who uses fundulus as a username, but these came from some nearby water in Michigan...and if what I read is correct, that's a long way from home for lined. Should have been more clear where they came from, sorry!They look like half-starved lined topminnows, Fundulus lineolatus.
#10
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Posted 05 January 2008 - 12:09 AM
I see dispar rather than diaphanus based on general body shape, more angular than the diaphanus I was familiar with in New England (even though the Michigan populations are recognized as a different "subspecies"). Also, diaphanus usually has some silvery-bluish body color, although in this case the fish don't look to be in really good condition. And, the individual's in the pictures have a spotted pattern on them which isn't typical of diaphanus but is found in dispar, as seen in Konrad Schmidt's picture below. So from several different physical factors, even with washed out fish, I think dispar is a better bet (not certainty).
#11
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Posted 05 January 2008 - 12:39 AM
They look like the western subspecies of diaphanus which is menona. This subspecies has fewer bars than it's eastern cousin and the bars do not extend as far up and down and tend to look like dashes rather than verticle bars as you get back near the tail. I'm sure brooklamprey can help comfirm this if I'm correct. I have seen them several times but I know he sees F. d. menona quite frequently. I'll add a pic of both a male and a female that are in a little better shape than the fish being discussed...
Male
Female
Male
Female
#12
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Posted 05 January 2008 - 12:47 AM
Those certainly most closely resemble the last photos.
Considering they were "living" in a bait tank, and prior to that, who knows how long they were held without any food...their condition does not surprise me! I'll have to keep an eye on the tank...the fishing guy today said the "little bass minnows"(they thought they were bass!), show up all the time. I hope to end up with a half dozen or so.
Considering they were "living" in a bait tank, and prior to that, who knows how long they were held without any food...their condition does not surprise me! I'll have to keep an eye on the tank...the fishing guy today said the "little bass minnows"(they thought they were bass!), show up all the time. I hope to end up with a half dozen or so.
#15
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Posted 05 January 2008 - 04:15 AM
Nightwing,
I'd have to second (or is it third at this point?) the vote for Fundulus diaphanus menona. I collect F. notatus, F. diaphanus menona, and F. dispar in your neighboring state of Wisconsin. The fish you have pictured look exactly like the diaphanus I collect. Also, if there's any question of the ID being between the diaphanus and the dispar, the dispar have a "teardrop" under the eye, whereas the diaphanus do not...if I remember correctly. Any taxonomists out there to back me up??
I'd have to second (or is it third at this point?) the vote for Fundulus diaphanus menona. I collect F. notatus, F. diaphanus menona, and F. dispar in your neighboring state of Wisconsin. The fish you have pictured look exactly like the diaphanus I collect. Also, if there's any question of the ID being between the diaphanus and the dispar, the dispar have a "teardrop" under the eye, whereas the diaphanus do not...if I remember correctly. Any taxonomists out there to back me up??
#17
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Posted 05 January 2008 - 09:58 AM
Yeah I do see banded...no teardrops. They looks like same killifish on my Fishes of Minnesota book, only fatter.
Wish I lives near any water that contain the fundulus species. I tried look for the killies. At last you don't have to wade in the water, where you can find some hitchhikers in the baitwell especially the killies.
Wish I lives near any water that contain the fundulus species. I tried look for the killies. At last you don't have to wade in the water, where you can find some hitchhikers in the baitwell especially the killies.
#19
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Posted 05 January 2008 - 10:14 AM
I'll concede to Brian's pictures as a good example of F. diaphanus menona id'ing the original Michigan fish as such. My thought was that younger, washed out individuals of dispar might not show a teardrop, and several species of Fundulus such as lined topminnows and starheads show that light barring pattern as sub-adults. The devil's argument is closed for the moment.
#20
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Posted 06 January 2008 - 02:24 AM
Wish I lives near any water that contain the fundulus species.
Butch,
Each spring Minnesota NANFA members and the Minnesota Aquarium Society have a "Darter Hunt" and we always get plenty of banded killifish at one of the lakes we go to. Not sure where exactly you are in Minnesota, but the lake is in the Stillwater area if that's not too far. Not to pressure you or anything, but if you haven't already joined NANFA, the darter hunt itself is well worth it.
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