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brook silverside breeding and territorial behavior


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#1 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 22 July 2011 - 09:10 AM

Yesterday we went our to quary with purpose of collecting redear for use as broodstock. Water body is box shaped with 90% of volume about 14 feet deep. The assmblage is made up of redear, pumpkinseed, warmmouth,redfin shiners, and brook silverides. The brook silverside population is much larger than we initially thought. They can be seen swimming and jumping all over surface of quarry which led us to think maybe a couple thousand were present. When we got after redear with 10' seine we caught 10 to 20 silversides with each haul. They were big and plump. I suspect population repressented by 10's of thousands. Easily this is most dense brook silverside population I have ever seen. I sat most of time on ledge over spit where most of sunfishes spawn. I could see both shellcrackers and redfin shiners putting eggs into formers nests. Redear going way late this year. I could also see multiple male silversides defending territories, courting females and spawning in clumps of short algae. The behaviors are similar to those of topminnows. The males could be distinguished by sooty looking tails from above. Males appeared larger by at least a third than females. Are males normally larger than females?

#2 Guest_Casper_*

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Posted 22 July 2011 - 12:08 PM

THAT is a cool observation.
And in a rock quarry... somehow they were transported there and have became highly established, probably with the Red Shiners. A great forage fish for all those predator sunfish. There is a rock quarry north of Chattanooga that was stocked with Paddlefish. I have yet to visit it but understand it is used for scuba certification. Generally quarrys are stocked with typical gamefish but i would love to see a greater diversity of non-game within them. I snorkeled Cerulean quarry in Cerulean Kentucky and at least they had some topminnows cruising.

I think you got to see something very few people have!

The Brook Silverside breeding males in Tates Hell and near the Okeefenokee in South Georgia are red nosed and with a translucent apple green candy body. Spectacular visual.

Please get some photos to share.

#3 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 22 July 2011 - 12:58 PM

I have seen the fancy silversides you mention in southern Georgia. Awesome!

Water too murky to photograph fish from in water. I have a good camcorder that can be used to film behavior from above. Each male has a territory representing 6 to 10 lineal feet of shoreline and 3 to 6 feet from shore so more than one can be seen, possible per shot. Breeding season seems protracted as they have been going at for 3 months. Juveniles yet to be seen so I am assuming they are relatively deep and away from shoreline.

#4 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 23 July 2011 - 11:15 PM

I made a video but almost nothing can be seen. Can a polarized lens be adapted to camcorders?

Link to what I made first time round. Please ignore commentary by hillbilly.



#5 Guest_Casper_*

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Posted 24 July 2011 - 10:18 AM

Hey...
I watched all 9 minutes, good effort on your part and i appreciated the commentary from Hillbilly.
:)
Really cant see much but pencil thin flashes of bright. Next time... zoom in and try a polarizer...?
Back in my 35mm days a polarizer was the solution for reflective surfaces like glass and water. Maybe you can get one cheap.
I would have liked to seen this myself. I still think it's cool you did.

#6 Michael Wolfe

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Posted 24 July 2011 - 12:00 PM

Hey...
I watched all 9 minutes, good effort on your part and i appreciated the commentary from Hillbilly.


I think several of us recognized that hillbillies voice... and yes, there are several polarizers out there for video cameras that might help... it also helped to watch it on full screen size on youtube directly...
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#7 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 25 July 2011 - 08:39 AM

I think several of us recognized that hillbillies voice... and yes, there are several polarizers out there for video cameras that might help... it also helped to watch it on full screen size on youtube directly...


Not giving up. Will place a polarizer on lens next run. I can see fish clearly with eyes but not with camera thus far.

#8 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 31 July 2011 - 11:19 PM

I have seen the fancy silversides you mention in southern Georgia. Awesome!


Same here, they are really nice.




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