I noticed for a while that New Hampshire creek chubs look very different from New York ones, they are much more silvery and streamlined.
It made me wonder if creek chubs settling in the north east after the ice age ended hybridized with fallfish? if you ask me New England Creek Chubs seem to have more in common appearance wise to fallfish than creek chubs west of here.
I couldn't find a picture of the new york creek chubs we caught in the scholaire, but moxistomas picture of a minnesota creek chub here looks just like one. Note the browner color, pink accents, and stockier body. http://www.d.umn.edu.../dcreekchub.png
Here is a picture of a creek chub looking very similar to ones in new hampshire including the one in my tank. The one in my minnow tank (and many of the ones I catch in NH) are even skinnier bodied and when caught on hook and line they lose the brownish colorations and dark spots making them look more like fallfish. http://www.cnr.vt.ed...s/creekchub.jpg
And finally here is a picture of a fallfish for comparison http://www.nae.usace...nhlfallfish.jpg
Could creek chubs have hybridized with fallfish when settling new england leading to a more fallfish like population?
(EDIT: just noticed that creek chub pic i posted was from virginia, that complicates things a bit, I assumed vt.edu ion the address was vermont but it is virginia tech. still, maybe east of the applalacian populations hybridized then expanded in range)
Edited by FirstChAoS, 13 October 2009 - 01:13 AM.