Saddled Darters.

I have been doing some limited research on the saddled darter duo located in the southeastern part of Missouri (mostly the Ozarks) and does anyone have any literature, photos, or explanation for the split of Etheostoma euzonum euzonum and Etheostoma euzonum erizonum?

Thanks ahead of time,

Blake

hey Blake,

Clearly the folks that described them (Hubbs & Black 1940) thought they were different, and Hubbs had a pretty good eye for that sort of thing... McKeown et al (1984) used allozyme data to suggest that erizonum was more closely related to tetrazonum than to euzonum, but Switzer & Wood (2002) recovered both euzonum and erizonum as more closely related to each other than they were to the tetrazonum clade. I think John (Switzer) had some additional data on the euzonum complex that supported recognition of erizonum (including color differences that are pretty distinctive), but AFAIK it hasn't been published yet...

If you're really bored or want further reading material, track down:

Hubbs, C.L. and J.D. Black. 1940. Percid fishes related to Poecilichthys variatus, with descriptions of three new forms. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan 416:1-30.

McKeown, P.E., C.H. Hocutt, R.P. Morgan III, and J.H. Howard. 1984. An electrophoretic analysis of the Etheostoma variatum complex (Percidae: Etheostomatini), with associated zoogeographic considerations. Environmental Biology of Fishes 11:85-95.

Switzer, J.F. and R.M. Wood. 2002. Molecular systematics and historical biogeography of the Missouri saddled darter Etheostoma tetrazonum (Actinopterygii: Percidae). Copeia 2002:450-455.

I have been doing some limited research on the saddled darter duo located in the southeastern part of Missouri (mostly the Ozarks) and does anyone have any literature, photos, or explanation for the split of Etheostoma euzonum euzonum and Etheostoma euzonum erizonum?

Thanks ahead of time,

Blake

www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?ID=3474 Try this link

Thank you Dave, I appreciate that write up.

If there was some phenotypic differences like those shown in E. blennioides newmanii and E. blennioides philodotum then I would care, but I guess for now I will just stick to the two main species of E. euzonum and E. tetrazonum.

Furthermore, when that paper does come out and get published regarding color differences of E. euzonum euzonum and E. euzonum erizonum I will definitely have to check it out.

Thanks,

Blake

www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?ID=3474 Try this link

Also a beautiful pictire on this link

Does anyone have any photos of missouri saddled darters? preferably from central missouri..

I have some darter I thought were rainbows(not the best when it comes to darter IDs) at the time of capture but im starting to think defferent and believe they are missouri saddled darters...

Thanks

Edited by basssmaster, 19 November 2008 - 05:16 PM.

There are some here: http://www.farmertod...m/nanfa/mo2007/ (not the greatest of the Mo saddled)

This was from Big Creek (Meramec drainage) in Eastern MO.

Todd

Here is a photo I took of a male, it came from a trib to the Meramec River.

 Male_Missouri_Saddle_Darter_Huzzah_Creek_a_trib_to_the_Meramec_River_MO_09_03_06_by_BZ.JPG   24.73KB   2 downloads

Attached is a pic of erizonum from the Current River, and a PDF of a paper by Page and Cordes (1983) on the morphology of euzonum/erizonum. The snout length difference is pretty striking in the contrast between these two species.

Thanks Tom for the photo and the especially the paper.

That is what I was looking for, little minuscule splits like this always interest me for some reason, much like the E. blennioides splits.

Blake

Thanks Brian, Jim, and Todd for the pictures as well, I appreciate the ample and tremendous help that this forum provides.

Brian that specimen has some fine color, at what month was that photo taken?

Thanks,

Blake

That fish was actually a fish that was caught by a friend of mine who is going to school in MO. It was in an aquarium at his parents house for several months before that photo was taken. I think his mom just was feeding it well.