A week's catch - mostly darters

Just a few I found recently. Haven't a clue on the first one - believe the last two are fantails. Found in a cold, fast moving, spring fed creek in central KY. The two fantails were both found in a riffle, while the first one and the minnows were found in a pool off of the riffles. Sculpins can be found just about anywhere.

Little fellows are hard to photograph, they just won't hold still.







The flash is deceptive here - these are tan with a dark stripe



I know what this is, but thought I'd toss in this shot for grins. He's sort of grinning.

Edited by JohnO, 01 April 2008 - 10:28 PM.

Hi John,

Are these Cumberland River drainage?

I think the first one is a greenside (although it looks strange to me, which may be because it's newmanii and not blennoides), you're right the second two are fantails of some sort depending on the drainage, the third species is a creek chub (look at the spot on the dorsal fin and base of the tail).

Todd

Todd:

These are out of a creek that drains directly into the KY river. About half field drainage, and about half fed by a massive spring, up in the thousands of gallons an hour. Probably why I've found so many sculpins...

I believe you're right on the greenside - when I found them, they were distinctly green on the side. That guy had been in the tank less than a day when I took that shot, and I've noticed that they tend to change color for a while when first put in the tank. You can't tell it from that shot, but when viewed from above, you can see three dark spots down their back.

Funny that I haven't been able to find any rainbows yet. They're in the creek, just haven't turned up yet.

--John

Edited by JohnO, 02 April 2008 - 07:59 PM.

That's interesting that you're finding greensides and not rainbows at a spring head. It's usually the opposite. Maybe the sculpins ate them all heehee.

I don't think anyone is going to elevate any of the Ohio tribs in Catonotus (man there's enough work in the Cumberland and Tennessee ) so we'll just go with flabellare on the fantails. They do look much more like the fantail that Ive seen in the Ozarks rather than in the OH, IN and PA tribs. I really need to focus on KY. I keep driving over it, it's stupid with gas prices to keep doing that

Those are really good pictures, btw. Fish are extremely difficult to photograph, as you noticed. I shoot about 25 shots for one I like. Thank goodness for digital!

Todd

Banded darter, two fantails, then a creek chub, and is that a SRBD behind the creek chub?

I think you all got the first one wrong, it looks like a female rainbow darter to me. The rest I would agree on including the backround minnow as possibly Southern Redbelly Dace or maybe a smaller creek chub.

I think you all got the first one wrong, it looks like a female rainbow darter to me. The rest I would agree on including the backround minnow as possibly Southern Redbelly Dace or maybe a smaller creek chub.

Maybe, but he said that the darter was originally distinctly green on the side. I am sticking with banded.

Those are really good pictures, btw. Fish are extremely difficult to photograph, as you noticed. I shoot about 25 shots for one I like. Thank goodness for digital!

Todd

Todd:

I have a dedicated macro photography setup, largely for the dozens of tiny wildflowers that pop up on my farm in the spring - farm is mostly old growth hardwood forest. Camera is an Olympus E330 with 50mm F2 Macro lens and twin head macro flash. The macro flash is essential if you want to capture detail - otherwise, there just isn't enough light for a digital sensor to resolve that close, even at high ISO. The live view on the camera makes focus confirmation a no miss affair - if the darn darters will hold still long enough, and they usually don't. Actually, the larger fantails seem to want to pose for me on occasion. Here, this is my best side...

I believe there are still one or two varieties of darters that I haven't caught up with. As I recall, there were greenthroats in that creek years ago. When the creek dies down in a month or two (!), that should give me access to the deeper pools. Conditions right now aren't the best, with the creek up, covering normally uninhabited areas.

Was thinking that perhaps the 'greenside' might be a female rainbow. Dorsal fin is semicircular, and viewed from above, they do show the two large dark spots that I remember as identifying a rainbow when I used to chase after them with a dip net in my youth. I got a larger one yesterday, will try to get a shot tonight. There are suckers in that creek, I've seen a pair in a large pool that are over 2 feet long. Some time later, I'm thinking about a trip to E KY to look for northern brook lampreys, and going a bit west for brook stickleback.

--John

Brian may be right that darter #1 is a female rainbow darter; that darter seems to have a key diagnostic trait for rainbows, a reverse-facing trident pattern on the caudal peduncle. And the general shape is right.

Well. Brian is right 99% of the time. But my initial thought was banded as soon as I saw it, and everytime there after. I am sticking with it as a matter of principle.

Principle? Crap, I have looked a bit more, and I am now sure that Brian is right. Dang if I saw that in my net, I would have pitched it as a banded.

Pardon me for bombarding all of you kind souls with photos, but here's two more shots I got this evening.

Here's a large fantail I found on Monday. This one has a fairly pleasant disposition, inquisitive but not aggressive. The other large fantail is a bit of a jerk.



And here's a pair that look a lot like rainbows. A bit fuzzy because I couldn't get them to come to the edge of the tank.



As for the one that might have been a greenside or rainbow... it was hiding and wouldn't come out. I distinctly saw an almost emerald green on the side of one when it was in the net, but am not sure I brought that one back. I went back to that pool, but couldn't catch anything. They must have wised up.

Those are definately rainbows

Todd

Second pic.
Rainbows for sure.

Todd:

If you're thinking about a trip to the Cumberland area, drop me a note. It's less than 100 miles from where I live. Even with current fuel prices, I can afford that. This is so much more fascinating that buying fish at a store, isn't it? You really need to learn the critter's physiology and habitat if you want to find them.

I've been looking over the species distribution list on KY's Fish&Game site http://fw.ky.gov/kfw...mp;NavPath=C267 and there are quite a few interesting darters in the Cumberland drainage. As there seem to be only three species of darters in my creek, I'm definitely wanting some diversity some time this spring or summer.

Hmmm - brook lampreys seem to occur there, too. That would be interesting.

--John