Variegate vs. Rainbow Darters ID photos

I'm getting ready to head out and try out the new dipnet, so I'm trying to brush up on my IDs and what I need to make sure not to take. I'm looking at pics of variegates online and some look an awful lot like Rainbows while others look completely different. Is there some surefire way to tell the two apart?

I don't know what pics you are looking at, but once you see a Rainbow and a Variegate Darter, you'll forever know the difference. There body's and color are totally different.

I'm getting ready to head out and try out the new dipnet, so I'm trying to brush up on my IDs and what I need to make sure not to take. I'm looking at pics of variegates online and some look an awful lot like Rainbows while others look completely different. Is there some surefire way to tell the two apart?

The other one you will run into, at least in Indiana, more that the Variegate is the Orangethroat. I had thought I had some Variegate a couple of years ago, but after sending some pictures to DNR they came back as just Orangethroats.

Bill F.

I'm getting ready to head out and try out the new dipnet, so I'm trying to brush up on my IDs and what I need to make sure not to take. I'm looking at pics of variegates online and some look an awful lot like Rainbows while others look completely different. Is there some surefire way to tell the two apart?

do a search in our member pics farmertodd has A few he has been none to take a pic or two sometimes.LOL

do a search in our member pics farmertodd has A few he has been none to take a pic or two sometimes.LOL

Tried that already. Lots of mention of variegates and some whole tank shots that likely include them, but I don't see a single good close up of a variegate darter from the search function.

The NANFA gallery has photos of each.

Etheostoma variatum Variegate Darter


The below Rainbow darter photo belongs to Lance Merry

Unless you're in the Whitewater River, in the Great Miami River drainage, you pretty much don't have to worry about it, although I would be cautious in the lower Blue River. Even in the Whitewater, they're an extremely rare fish (I think it's too "clean" for them ).

The variegates will have 3 or 4 very distinct black saddles on their back (there's 4, but sometimes one won't be so obvious on a young specimen). Their heads are also much more roubustly shaped and truncated, compared to the rainbow, which is more angular and terminal. The eye of the variegate in proportion to the head is much larger in the variegate, as you can probably see in Ulands fantastic photos As well, the variegate anal fin is only blue, where as a rainbow will have some orange. The orangethroat (another you have to think about) will have an all blue anal fin like the variegate, but they have a much more sleek body (as do rainbows, but not as much as orangethroats)

Here's some more pictures with things pointed out:

Variegate darter with saddles pointed out:

 variegate_cut.jpg   39.72KB   3 downloads

Or this female that I'm adding (3rd edit is a charm! ) is pretty obvious:

 variefemale.jpg   31.62KB   3 downloads

Rainbow darter with anal fin pointed out:

 rainbow_cut.jpg   37.63KB   3 downloads

Orangethroat darter with anal fin pointed out:

 orangethroat_cut.jpg   32.97KB   5 downloads

Todd

Edited by farmertodd, 16 March 2009 - 10:32 AM.

Thank you. I didn't even think to look in the member's galleries.

That is what I wanted to know. It seems fairly obvious now that it's been pointed out, but I was looking at a bunch of google images many of which were likely labeled wrong and I was getting more and more confused.

I'm pretty certain you're right on me not seeing the variegates. Though I do think that most of what I've run across and considered rainbows were actually orangethroats. They seem to be rather thin fish when compared to that rainbow.

[quote name='farmertodd'
Very nice shots of fishes plus the airbrush touch was a helpful addition.

[quote name='CATfishTONY' post='55447' date='Mar 16 2009, 01:47 PM'][quote name='farmertodd'
Very nice shots of fishes plus the airbrush touch was a helpful addition.[/quote]

He edits in those nice colors also

The big difference in body shape is the head. The variegate has a broad head, while rainbow and orangethroat have very slender heads. The photos don't really bring out the difference in the width of the head, but it is very distinct.

Typically when I find variegates, they have an olive color to the body. Despite their somewhat sculpin like head shape, they're very well behaved.

Also, I've found the best variegates in the riffles, while rainbows and orangethroats seem to exist just about everwhere.