Redline darter

Fish courtesy of FarmerTodd
Photo tank courtesy of Teleost

Whoa! Perty fish...

Chad

Nice pic Matt!

Yeah, they really are striking fish... and stay in color no matter if the temps are up in the high 70's. They're easily kept on frozen foods, typically accepting prepared foods after they've associated you with food. And... This is one member of the subgenus Nothonotus that's not in any kind of trouble. They're easily found in pretty much any stream connected to the Tennessee River. The first place I caught them was behind an Auto Zone in Pigeon Forge, TN, right off the strip where they have all the junk shops, helicopter rides, outlet malls and carnival crap, to give you an idea

Here's some others that I took when they were in a more breeding oriented mode:

http://nomy.org/nanf...a/rufilineatum/

Todd

Nice pic Matt!

Yeah, they really are striking fish... and stay in color no matter if the temps are up in the high 70's. They're easily kept on frozen foods, typically accepting prepared foods after they've associated you with food. And... This is one member of the subgenus Nothonotus that's not in any kind of trouble. They're easily found in pretty much any stream connected to the Tennessee River. The first place I caught them was behind an Auto Zone in Pigeon Forge, TN, right off the strip where they have all the junk shops, helicopter rides, outlet malls and carnival crap, to give you an idea

Here's some others that I took when they were in a more breeding oriented mode:

http://nomy.org/nanf...a/rufilineatum/

Todd

WOW! they are beautiful! Those are great photos!

Wow those fish are amazing to look at! The colors are crazy. They look so pudgy with their short necks I guess you would say?

Chad

NThe first place I caught them was behind an Auto Zone in Pigeon Forge, TN, right off the strip where they have all the junk shops, helicopter rides, outlet malls and carnival crap, to give you an idea

I think I know which one you are talking about. I spent some time in TN a few years ago before I was hooked on natives. Went over what I know now as NICE water.

Nice pics BTW. I have a few of them but none near that big. We released most of the big ones that we collected earlier this year in the VA section of the TN drainage.

Thanks guys.

Yeah these particular ones came from the Little Buffalo where the dominant size class when I worked it were this size, and is just an amazing river. Imagine lifting the seine with 20 of these guys, this size... Church has begun!

It's the right mix of productivity and recovery from human modification, although the site where we got this specimen was among the concrete from an old bridge they dropped right into the channel. It's a spectacular place, I highly advise any stream in the Duck River system. For example, redlines are the dominant darter in downtown Shelbyville, at the US 231 bridge and fishing park.

I've also caught them this size in the Mills River near Asheville (Brevard), but as in the mountains and the tail ends of trout streams, there's waaaay fewer individuals because the streams have very little productivity at that point. Nice scenery, low abundances, limited richness

Todd

You guys in the Tennessee drainage are so lucky! I only have one redline but he is my prize darter (other than the gilt ) and to add perspective, our dominant darter species here is the tesselated, ack.