Black Redhorse From Sipsey Fork In Alabama

We caught this redhorse several years ago on a NANFA trip while electroshocking in Sipsey Fork of the Warrior River in the Bankhead National Forest in Alabama. You can see lots of them whipping by in deeper pools, but we never caught one seining until Dave Neely brought his lab group's electroshocker. I think Casper is holding it.

Thank you so much for posting a photo of the under appreciated redhorse. I've been working on seining them but I think I'd have better luck catching gambusia with a 1" mesh seine. I hope to tag along on an electroshocking trip someday.

wow that is very impressive!!! Nice pic!!

wow that is very impressive!!! Nice pic!!

Here's a photo of part of our group that day I took the redhorse picture. We're wading up Sipsey Fork just downstream from Alabama Highway 33, along a stretch where the river has undercut a limestone cliff. From left to right in the picture are Tony from Thailand, Dave Neely with the backpack electroshocker and Patrick from Atlanta.

Wow...I would love to do that! That looks like sooo much fun, and I could probably do that all day and into the next ...now, forgive me, I dont know much about electric shockers...do they stun the fish so that they can be normal again after a few minutes or does it shock them into infinity? Thats very interesting...

Wow...I would love to do that! That looks like sooo much fun, and I could probably do that all day and into the next ...now, forgive me, I dont know much about electric shockers...do they stun the fish so that they can be normal again after a few minutes or does it shock them into infinity? Thats very interesting...

I realize that Connecticut is not a Great Lakes state, but you're welcome to join us the weekend of the ninth... No electroshockers, but you will go home with a nice sampling of the fishes of central Ohio, which are typical of the midwest and northeast.

Electroshocking stuns them very briefly. It is humane and effective for scientific research. It is not something most of us can do with our standard state fishing licenses.

The impact that an electro shocker has on fish depends on a lot of different variables (conductivity of the water, shocker settings, the sensitivity of the fish species, etc). It's great for sampling, but don't get me wrong we've had numerous tessellated darters croak out on us while sampling. Then again other species like eels and mummichogs will start swimming back to normal right when you turn the shocker off.

I believe there are studies that are testing the long term effects of electro shocking on fish. Such as: Is the fish more prone to predation after being shocked due to the stress placed on the fish from shocking, the fishes age, growth etc. compared to fish that have never been shocked before. I haven't looked for or seen the actual reports on this, I've just heard word of mouth from my boss. I think it would be a good study though. Just because the fish swims away and looks normal after shocking doesn't necessarily mean everything is ok. But who knows. If I find something on this topic I'll post it.

The impact that an electro shocker has on fish depends on a lot of different variables (conductivity of the water, shocker settings, the sensitivity of the fish species, etc). It's great for sampling, but don't get me wrong we've had numerous tessellated darters croak out on us while sampling. Then again other species like eels and mummichogs will start swimming back to normal right when you turn the shocker off.

I believe there are studies that are testing the long term effects of electro shocking on fish. Such as: Is the fish more prone to predation after being shocked due to the stress placed on the fish from shocking, the fishes age, growth etc. compared to fish that have never been shocked before. I haven't looked for or seen the actual reports on this, I've just heard word of mouth from my boss. I think its would be a good study though. Just because the fish swims away and looks normal after shocking doesn't necessarily mean everything is ok. But who knows. If I find something on this topic I'll post it.

The one group of fishes that I've seen badly affected by shocking is darters, as you point out. Some of them seem to twitch so hard from the current that they break their necks(?). But bigger, more robust fish like bowfin or redhorse don't seem to be badly affected. I'll admit that one of the scariest moments I've had in fish collecting was picking up and holding a 70 cm bowfin that had been shocked from a canoe we were in. The teeth just looked too, too good.