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Western and Central Tennessee March 2010

Started by Guest_Uland_* , Apr 15 2010 09:20 AM

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#1 Guest_Uland_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 09:20 AM

Blake, Nathan and I managed to get out and photo a few fishes in Tennessee in March. Our first day was a bit slow and cold but we were lucky enough to benefit from the company and hospitality of Nathan. We only sampled one creek but it was well worth the time we spent.

Small trib of the Buffalo River

Etheostoma blennius female:
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Etheostoma blennius male:
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Etheostoma stigmaeum male:
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(actually not sure if these are still stigmaeum)

Etheostoma tennesseense male:
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Etheostoma tennesseense female:
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Notropis telescopus:
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I'll get more photos up later :smile2:

#2 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 09:50 AM

Those photos came out great, Uland! I think the Buffalo and Duck E. stigmaeum are currently called "clown darters".

#3 Guest_fritz_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 09:52 AM

Hey Uland -
Great photos. Have you changed your technique any? It appears that you are perhaps backlighting the fish to make the fin rays stand out? Or is still the squeeze and tickle method with ambient light?

#4 Guest_Uland_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 10:05 AM

Thanks Nathan, I have a hard time keeping up and unlearning what little I have learned :biggrin:

Fritz, I have not made any changes this year and this trip was unusual in that every day was rainy or drizzly and overcast while taking photos. I've found overcast conditions make for pretty good photos as the fins seem to be highlighted but at the same time I've found it very difficult to adjust the camera to compensate for the squirmy fishes. Many of my photos are blurry for this reason but I'll take what I can get when in the company of such pretty fish.

Next morning Blake and I stopped a small trib of a large creek not far from the Tennessee River:
Etheostoma flavum male:
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Etheostoma flavum female:
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#5 Guest_Uland_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 10:15 AM

Awe shucks...Is the fish I have labeled Etheostoma tennesseense actually Etheostoma planasaxatile?

#6 Guest_fundulus_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 10:34 AM

Awe shucks...Is the fish I have labeled Etheostoma tennesseense actually Etheostoma planasaxatile?

Probably. Your blenny darter pics are the most informative I've seen of that species, they're definitely a species in need of more research. And who doesn't like telescope shiners?!?

#7 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 10:35 AM

Reckon so.

#8 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 12:55 PM

Beautiful as always Uland! I really like that flavum. There's few pictures about that capture the essence of that fish.

And yes, that's a Duck darter.

Todd

#9 Guest_Uland_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 01:57 PM

Thanks Todd. I guess the most recent book isn't "recent enough"?

Blake and I then went to the Hatchie river and found it was very high and sampled a tiny, unnamed trib in hopes of finding E. zonistium and struck out in finding adults for photos. We did see a ton of E. parvipinne but decided not to spend the time with photos. We then moved on to the forked deer and found below fishes:

Etheostoma cervus male:
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Etheostoma cervus female:
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This was a pretty quick stop and we then moved onto the Obion River system.

Etheostoma pyrrhogaster male:
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Etheostoma pyrrhogaster female:
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#10 Guest_IsaacSzabo_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 02:00 PM

Really outstanding pictures Uland! It looks like you caught some of the darters in their peak color. It's great to see these interesting fish in such great detail. Thanks for sharing.

Edited by IsaacSzabo, 15 April 2010 - 02:01 PM.

#11 Guest_Uland_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 02:01 PM

A few more form the Obion:

Etheostoma lynceum male:
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Etheostoma lynceum female:
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Cyprinella camura:
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#12 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 02:52 PM

Thanks Todd. I guess the most recent book isn't "recent enough"?

Some of it has been published, some of it hasn't (like your Doration sp cf stimaeum "clown darter" there). To do a revision would be serious work, and it's probably best put off until at least AFS catches up to the literature we have today in darterology. Once they decide if they're going to take the subgeneric elevations and new descriptions, then it'd be pretty sweet to get a new Handbook of Darters, esp with all these great photos that are surfacing. Then we won't have to wait around until that Cyrpinid mess has settled out.

Todd

#13 Guest_Uland_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 07:58 PM

We then headed off to Sumner county to see new fish and found what we expected plus the E. caeruleum others have mentioned that lack the typical anal fin coloration.
Etheostoma barrenense male:
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Etheostoma barrenense female:
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Etheostoma bellum male:
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Etheostoma bellum female:
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link

#14 Guest_Uland_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 08:09 PM

Next stop was Warren county and worked our rear ends off to find a single adult pair worthy of photos.

Etheostoma etnieri male:
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Etheostoma etnieri female:
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We stopped at a nearby location and found a few more fish:
Cyprinella galactura:
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We caught Lamprey at a few locations but I'll post just one here:
Lampetra aepyptera:
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#15 Guest_Uland_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 08:17 PM

Our last stop and the icing on the cake :smile2:

Etheostoma luteovinctum male:
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Etheostoma luteovinctum female:
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This trip despite the weather was really fantastic. I feel lucky to have not only seen so many fish for the first time but also able to take the time to photograph them.
Thanks for the great time Blake and thanks for your hospitality Nathan!

#16 Guest_blakemarkwell_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 09:25 PM

Thank you Uland! It was great to finally meet Nathan and I look forward to future trips. I have been horribly lazy on the editing end, but your photos cover the trip well! I will post the ones I have done, though they are the same ones from the gallery. I will post more here when I have them done as I have a lot of Etheostoma and lamprey left to edit!

Campostoma oligolepis (Robertson County, TN)

Clinostomus funduloides (Lawrence County, TN)

Etheostoma blennius (Lewis County, TN)

Etheostoma flavum (Robertson County, TN)

Etheostoma stigmaeum (Lewis County, TN)

#17 Guest_natureman187_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 11:26 PM

Great pictures guys! That's quite the list for merely 4 days. Love the blenny!

...plus the E. caeruleum others have mentioned that lack the typical anal fin coloration.

This may not be from the E. caeruleum complex at all. If that's in proximity from where I think it is in ole Sumner, I bet that's Etheostoma kantuckeense.

E. caeruleum from that area have the typical characteristics.

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#18 Guest_blakemarkwell_*

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Posted 15 April 2010 - 11:36 PM

Yes, all there is in the Barren is E. kantuckeense and E. caeruleum. I have several photos of E. caeruleum from the same site, I just need to edit them.

#19 Guest_Clayton_*

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Posted 16 April 2010 - 12:51 PM

Wow those are some awesome pictures! I've never seen a fish so covered in tubercles(sp?).

That really makes me want to get out and do some seining.

#20 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 16 April 2010 - 02:28 PM

Thanks for the fireworks!
Beside being great shots and amazing colors, there are some cool ones in there I never paid attention to before.
I really like the blenny too.