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A couple of new species for me

Started by Guest_truf_* , Jun 07 2009 07:42 PM

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#1 Guest_truf_*

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Posted 07 June 2009 - 07:42 PM

While camping and hiking in the Red River Gorge (KY) last weekend I managed to get my feet wet a couple of times.
Just before a huge storm blew in I sampled a tributary to the Red River and caught my first Lamprey.
Since I am not familiar with the many species of lampreys I am not exactly sure what it was. Plus it was an ammocoete, which for me makes IDing it even more difficult.
Unfortunately, it did not survive the treatment.

I did manage to get a couple of poor pictures as my camera's batteries went dead.
I'll post them when I successfully upload them.

I also managed to catch a couple of fecklebelly darters. I just love those things: A darter that acts like a minnow. It's two fish for the price of one!

Then today, while visiting Columbus Indiana, I drove past a small creek exiting a golf course pond. This creek is always choked full of vegetation. Most of the creeks around that area are rocky, silted or sandy, or gravel bottomed. Naturally this one piqued my curiosity.
In one of the deeper pools swimming in a group of about 15 fish, I caught my first beautifully colored up male Redfin Shiners.

This too was a new species for me. Evey time I think I've seen everything there is to be seen in the area, long comes another new one.

I love this hobby.
-Thom

#2 Guest_jblaylock_*

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Posted 08 June 2009 - 08:09 AM

How was the water in Red River? We've had some spotty strong showers over the past week here in KY, that river can get muddy and deep...very fast because of all the tributaries. I need to run up to Red River and get a Frecklebelly also. How many did you catch? They are really cool darters, they add good diversity to the shiners in the tank.

I found a dead lamprey there the first time I went, but that's it.

#3 Guest_truf_*

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Posted 08 June 2009 - 04:25 PM

How was the water in Red River? We've had some spotty strong showers over the past week here in KY, that river can get muddy and deep...very fast because of all the tributaries. I need to run up to Red River and get a Frecklebelly also. How many did you catch? They are really cool darters, they add good diversity to the shiners in the tank.

I found a dead lamprey there the first time I went, but that's it.

I only went into the Red River itself briefly on the first evening. I was looking for Brindled Madtoms in a riffle which I used to frequently catch them in. I've not caught a single one there in 2 years now. It's been a bit frustrating. That is near where I caught my Frecklebellys though, of which I caught three. They are a bit sparse, and I'm trying to find a reliable source location for them in or around the Red. A good weed bed with around one foot or so of depth seems to be the best place I've caught them. Also, I need to find a more reliable location for Brindled Madtoms.
I also caught a solitary juvenile Northern Studfish, although I saw quite a few.

The next night all hell broke loose, constant thunder and lightning while trying to sleep in a tent is un-nerving. The main channel was flooded, so I stayed away from it, due to the muddy nature of the river after a rain. I stayed largely to the tribs the water level lowers off much quicker in these.
Besides, I like to sample the smaller water anyway. It seems like I hit micro habitats in smaller water, that you just don't find in bigger water, and it's less work to boot.

#4 Guest_jblaylock_*

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Posted 09 June 2009 - 07:52 AM

I was in Cincinatti over the weeked with some friends, then we went over to Madison IN. Have you ever sampled around Clifty Creek? I've been by it several times, and often wondered if it is a good stream.

#5 Guest_truf_*

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Posted 09 June 2009 - 05:16 PM

I was in Cincinatti over the weeked with some friends, then we went over to Madison IN. Have you ever sampled around Clifty Creek? I've been by it several times, and often wondered if it is a good stream.

I have been to Madison IN/Clifty Falls several times but have yet to sample the area. I usually just hike the Falls. I've always been curious about it though.
Indiana seems like a strangely barren sampling area, with not much diversity.
I wonder if it is due to glaciation?

Does anyone on this forum know of some quality sampling sites in Southern Indiana that might contain species that are unavailable in SW Ohio and N. Central Kentucky?
-Thom

#6 Guest_JohnO_*

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Posted 10 June 2009 - 12:02 PM

I've found frecklebellies in the Red under logs or big rocks. Not under every log or big rock, mind you, but when I've found them, it has always been under an overhanging log, or in one case under a boulder that was sitting in the river. There's a big boulder in the water on the gravel road, about a mile from where the metal bridge is. I usually find a frecklebelly or two there.

I brought back a cute little brindled madtom last summer from the Red. When I turned it loose in the tank, it took off behind the creek rock slabs on the bottom, and I never saw it again. I figure it might have jumped out. Maybe it's still hiding under the rocks.

Get in touch with us, Thom. Good hunting and a completely different set of darters about a 1.5 hour drive from the Red. I'm overdue for a collecting trip. Want to get a couple of emerald shiners, and dang it I want a bloodfin darter. Definitely know where some large striped darters and schools of northern studfish can be found. I brought back three studfish, the've done very well, and added some movement to the top of the tank.

#7 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 10 June 2009 - 02:30 PM

Does anyone on this forum know of some quality sampling sites in Southern Indiana that might contain species that are unavailable in SW Ohio and N. Central Kentucky?

Nope, you're looking at the pre-glacial upper Ohio's best in the Kentucky River drainages. The Blue River might be worth some exploration, but I haven't been there. If you drive that far, you might as well have gone to the Green or Rockcastle and really found yourself in the jackpot.

Todd

#8 Guest_truf_*

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Posted 10 June 2009 - 04:42 PM

Nope, you're looking at the pre-glacial upper Ohio's best in the Kentucky River drainages. The Blue River might be worth some exploration, but I haven't been there. If you drive that far, you might as well have gone to the Green or Rockcastle and really found yourself in the jackpot.

Todd

I was afraid it was glacial related, and therefore similar.
Thanks....
-Thom

#9 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 10 June 2009 - 09:24 PM

I brought back a cute little brindled madtom last summer from the Red. When I turned it loose in the tank, it took off behind the creek rock slabs on the bottom, and I never saw it again. I figure it might have jumped out. Maybe it's still hiding under the rocks.

Could still be OK, I've told the story before, but I have had a couple of different species of madtom that actually did very well and grew significantly... and I only saw them once every 9 months or so over the course of several years...

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#10 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 10 June 2009 - 10:49 PM

I was afraid it was glacial related, and therefore similar.
Thanks....
-Thom

Yeah, the former Teays and the Licking probably made each other a little more interesting, but they ended up being the same.

It would, however, be seriously cool to find frecklebelly darter in the Blue River in Indiana. There may not have been enough ground water influence there to maintain them in the harshest of the Pleistocene tho. That might be a fun Percina to model geologically. Hmmm...

Todd