I used a backpack shocker for the first time today. It was an interesting experience. I can't say carrying a running engine on my back is my preferred way to experience the outdoors, but it certainly let me see a lot more fish than I otherwise would have. We hit several Red and lower Cumberland tribs in the Western Highland Rim/Pennyroyal Plain region of Tennessee. The species I remember seeing include:
Ambloplites rupestris
Campostoma sp.
Chrosomus erythrogaster
Clinostomus funduloides
Cottus bairdi
Cottus carolinae
Erimystax insignis
Etheostoma blennioides
Etheostoma caeruleum
Etheostoma crossopterum
Etheostoma flabellare
Etheostoma flavum
Etheostoma occidentale
Etheostoma rufilineatum
Etheostoma squamiceps
Etheostoma sp. "Ihiyo Darter"
Etheostoma sp. "Longhunt Darter"
Fundulus catenatus
Fundulus notatus
Hypentelium nigricans
Lepomis cyanellus
Lepomis megalotis
Luxilus chrysocephalus
Lythrurus fasciolaris
Moxostoma sp.
Notropis telescopus
Noturus exilis
Percina caprodes
Pimephales notatus
Rhinichthys cataractae
Rhinichthys obtusus
Semotilus atromaculatus
Plus a modest selection of aquatic macroinvertebrates, and of course plenty of wildflowers!
Sorry, no pics. I'm not so sure about the R. cataractae, but that's what the more experienced fishheads told me they were. I'm also unclear on the stoneroller situation in the lower Cumberland. Are C. anomalum and C. oligolepis both present there?
Shocking!
Started by
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, Apr 09 2010 12:52 AM
14 replies to this topic
#4
Guest_daveneely_*
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Posted 09 April 2010 - 08:16 AM
yes, if you have a place to recharge them, batteries are much nicer to work with.
your experienced fishhead must have a paper in press writing up this new population of longnose dace? That's quite a range extension...
your experienced fishhead must have a paper in press writing up this new population of longnose dace? That's quite a range extension...
#5
Guest_Newt_*
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Posted 09 April 2010 - 08:33 AM
I also thought it extremely unlikely for the species to make such a range jump, and I wouldn't have considered calling them anything but blacknose. However I had the disadvantage of never having seen longnose in person.
I was reading the R. atratulus account in Etnier and Starnes this morning- they say that large blacknose from Cumberland populations often resemble R. cataractae. We pickled a few, so hopefully I'll get around to keying them out before too long.
I was reading the R. atratulus account in Etnier and Starnes this morning- they say that large blacknose from Cumberland populations often resemble R. cataractae. We pickled a few, so hopefully I'll get around to keying them out before too long.
#6
Guest_ashtonmj_*
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Posted 09 April 2010 - 09:23 AM
Or have many hands to carry extra batteries...I'd love to have a little solar charger to bring into the field, leave it on the bank, and go do my business.
Dave, don't you have a nice picture of an obtusus with a long nose well over the mouth that would probably be called an atratulus most other places in the country, especially where it is sympatic with W/E blacknose or smokey dace?
Dave, don't you have a nice picture of an obtusus with a long nose well over the mouth that would probably be called an atratulus most other places in the country, especially where it is sympatic with W/E blacknose or smokey dace?
#7
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Posted 09 April 2010 - 10:31 AM
Yeah, that's something I've been meaning to get around to... an array of chargers on the roof of your vehicle would charge up those 24V/18Ah battery packs in no time on sunny days, and wouldn't put more $$ in TVA's coffers. On the old 12Bs you could strap an extra battery to the flat top of the pulse box -- now everything is all ergonomic and aerodynamic and there's no lash points. Thanks, Smith-Root...
I thought I had a photo of one of the upper Cumberland critters somewhere, but all I can find is a middle Cumberland photo (link here). Large males in some parts of the drainage do have a very pronounced schnoz...
Real (whatever that is) longnose dace are sympatric with smoky dace; that's a montane Blue Ridge species. Still, there's some awfully weird things going on with Rhinichthys in the East...
I thought I had a photo of one of the upper Cumberland critters somewhere, but all I can find is a middle Cumberland photo (link here). Large males in some parts of the drainage do have a very pronounced schnoz...
Real (whatever that is) longnose dace are sympatric with smoky dace; that's a montane Blue Ridge species. Still, there's some awfully weird things going on with Rhinichthys in the East...
#9
Guest_nativeplanter_*
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Posted 09 April 2010 - 02:04 PM
Yeah, that's something I've been meaning to get around to... an array of chargers on the roof of your vehicle would charge up those 24V/18Ah battery packs in no time on sunny days, and wouldn't put more $$ in TVA's coffers. On the old 12Bs you could strap an extra battery to the flat top of the pulse box -- now everything is all ergonomic and aerodynamic and there's no lash points. Thanks, Smith-Root...
How about some sort of hand crank for cloudy days?
#10
Guest_daveneely_*
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Posted 09 April 2010 - 02:30 PM
That's an option too. The attached photo is from an expedition to southwestern China during 2006. The ultimate in "green" sampling. Don't try this at home, kids, it's extremely dangerous and illegal almost everywhere (unless you live in eastern NC and want to catch flathead catfish...).
Attached Images
#12
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Posted 10 April 2010 - 09:21 PM
I'm glad to see some talk about R. cataractae in the Cumberland. Mind you this is all coming from a non-professonial fish person. However, I have a passion for it and read lots of lit. I found a reference for R. cataractae in the Big Sandy River drainage in KY back in like the 70-80's range. Then I found additional references for them in 2003 in the extreme Upper Cumberland, reference HERE, and one in the Mid Cumberland by none other than our own Mr. Near, refernce HERE. Now, I'm not sure why I'm nearly obsessed with this, but I just find it so strange for these to show up in the upper Cumberland all of a sudden. I suppose they could have been there all along but seems like it would have been referenced prior to now.
In a small creek in the extreme upper C. I have caught several blacknoses (I guess) with extremely long snouts on them. I thought they were R. cataractae also, but experts here said otherwise. Anyways, I love to see some writing about the expansion of R. cataractae.
In a small creek in the extreme upper C. I have caught several blacknoses (I guess) with extremely long snouts on them. I thought they were R. cataractae also, but experts here said otherwise. Anyways, I love to see some writing about the expansion of R. cataractae.
#13
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Posted 11 April 2010 - 05:05 PM
Sorry, perhaps I wasn't being clear enough. There's no evidence (specimens in natural history collections) of real R. cataractae in the Cumberland; the form of blacknose dace in that system have VERY long snouts but lateral scale counts too low for R. cataractae (and lots of other characters, but that's the most obvious one). I suspect that the references you cite above were fooled by the long snouts and didn't bother to check other characters-- it happens a lot! My comment to Nathan about "range expansion" was thus mostly in jest...
#15
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Posted 15 April 2010 - 10:32 AM
Not a shocking venture, but I didn't want to start a new thread: I did some herp trapping and netting in two floodplain wetland complexes along the lower Cumberland in the last two weeks with my boss's herp class. Species caught include:
Amphibians, site 1:
Acris crepitans
Desmognathus fuscus
Eurycea cirrigera
Lithobates catesbeianus
Lithobates clamitans
Lithobates sphenocephala
Notophthalmus viridescens
Plethodon dorsalis
Pseudacris crucifer
Amphibians, site 2:
Acris crepitans
Anaxyrus americanus
Lithobates catesbeianus
Lithobates clamitans
Lithobates sphenocephala
Notophthalmus viridescens
Pseudacris crucifer
Siren intermedia
Reptiles, site 1:
Agkistrodon piscivorus
Diadophis punctatus
Lampropeltis getula
Nerodia erythrogaster
Nerodia sipedon
Plestiodon fasciatus
Regina septemvittata
Storeria dekayi
Thamnophis sauritus
Trachemys scripta
Reptiles, site 2:
Chelydra serpentina
Diadophis punctatus
Nerodia sipedon
Thamnophis sirtalis
Trachemys scripta
Fish, site 1:
Aphredoderus sayanus
Etheostoma flabellare
Gambusia affinis
Lepomis gulosus
Lepomis macrochirus
Lepomis microlophus
Semotilus atromaculatus
Fish, site 2:
Amia calva
Gambusia affinis
Lepisosteus oculatus
Lepomis gulosus
Lepomis macrochirus
Micropterus salmoides
Pomoxis annularis
Of course, numerous crayfish, snails, beetles, dragonflies, and hemipterans were captured at both sites.
Some notes of interest:
The single queen snake (Regina septemvittata) captured regurgitated a fantail darter. This snake is considered a crayfish specialist, so this was an unusual occurrence.
The bowfin were seen but not captured; they were an adult male, ca. 28" long, with a large brood of ca. 3/4" young, hanging out just below the surface in densely vegetated (Ludwigia palustris + Polygonum sp.) shallow water. Several splashes and movements seen in the same area were likely other brooding bowfins.
Two Siren were collected, one in each of two traps placed near one another in a shallow buttonbush-dominated wetland with moderately dense submerged vegetation (mainly Ludwigia palustris and Callitriche heterophylla). I mention this because almost every time I have caught siren there have been two individuals. I don't know what, if any, significance this has, but Siren are known to be one of the most social salamanders.
Amphibians, site 1:
Acris crepitans
Desmognathus fuscus
Eurycea cirrigera
Lithobates catesbeianus
Lithobates clamitans
Lithobates sphenocephala
Notophthalmus viridescens
Plethodon dorsalis
Pseudacris crucifer
Amphibians, site 2:
Acris crepitans
Anaxyrus americanus
Lithobates catesbeianus
Lithobates clamitans
Lithobates sphenocephala
Notophthalmus viridescens
Pseudacris crucifer
Siren intermedia
Reptiles, site 1:
Agkistrodon piscivorus
Diadophis punctatus
Lampropeltis getula
Nerodia erythrogaster
Nerodia sipedon
Plestiodon fasciatus
Regina septemvittata
Storeria dekayi
Thamnophis sauritus
Trachemys scripta
Reptiles, site 2:
Chelydra serpentina
Diadophis punctatus
Nerodia sipedon
Thamnophis sirtalis
Trachemys scripta
Fish, site 1:
Aphredoderus sayanus
Etheostoma flabellare
Gambusia affinis
Lepomis gulosus
Lepomis macrochirus
Lepomis microlophus
Semotilus atromaculatus
Fish, site 2:
Amia calva
Gambusia affinis
Lepisosteus oculatus
Lepomis gulosus
Lepomis macrochirus
Micropterus salmoides
Pomoxis annularis
Of course, numerous crayfish, snails, beetles, dragonflies, and hemipterans were captured at both sites.
Some notes of interest:
The single queen snake (Regina septemvittata) captured regurgitated a fantail darter. This snake is considered a crayfish specialist, so this was an unusual occurrence.
The bowfin were seen but not captured; they were an adult male, ca. 28" long, with a large brood of ca. 3/4" young, hanging out just below the surface in densely vegetated (Ludwigia palustris + Polygonum sp.) shallow water. Several splashes and movements seen in the same area were likely other brooding bowfins.
Two Siren were collected, one in each of two traps placed near one another in a shallow buttonbush-dominated wetland with moderately dense submerged vegetation (mainly Ludwigia palustris and Callitriche heterophylla). I mention this because almost every time I have caught siren there have been two individuals. I don't know what, if any, significance this has, but Siren are known to be one of the most social salamanders.
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