Greenside darter
| Greenside darter | |
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| Subgenus: | Etheostoma
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| Species: | E. blennioides
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| Binomial name | |
| Etheostoma blennioides Rafinesque, 1819
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The Greenside darter (Etheostoma blennioides) is a species of fish in the family Percidae. E. blennioides is a large percid than inhabits swift riffles. E. blennioides occurs in Alabama, Arkansas, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Biology
Etheostoma blennioides typically lives for three to five years, grows to a maximum of 132 mm SL (standard length) and are sexually mature at one to two years of age. E. blennioides are reproductively active from February to April in the Midwest and Southeastern United States. Spawning occurs over algae or moss-covered rocks in deep, swift riffles that are territorialized by males that vigorously defended against intruders. Females linger in pools below the riffle and move into the males territory when ready to spawn. Eggs are viscous and stick together in small clumps on green alga (Cladophora), moss (Fontinalis), and riverweed (Podostemaceae). E. blennioides are insectivorous, with analyzed gut contents containing Nematocera larvae, more specifically black fly (Simuliidae) and midge (Chironomidae) larvae. Furthermore, significant numbers of mayfly (Ephemeroptera) and caddisfly (Trichoptera) nymphs were also found.
Characteristics
Etheostoma blennioides have a elongate body with a long and rounded snout. Dorsum greenish-brown with 6-7 dark quadrate saddles and side with 5-8 dark green blotches that are typically U or W-shaped. Nape, cheek, opercle, and belly completely scaled with breast naked. Anal fin has 6-10 rays, usually 8 and pectoral fin rays 13-16 and both are bright green in breeding males; caudal fin yellowish to clear; dorsal fin rays 12-15 with red basal band; breeding males have intensely bluish-green nasal and oral areas and sometimes black on head.[1]
Conservation
Etheostoma blennioides is currently secure throughout its range, except in Mississippi, where its habitat was altered by the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.
Distribution
The Etheostoma blennioides subspecies are believed to have diverged in separate drainage systems and glacial refugia during the Pleistocene Ice Ages[2], which destroyed older connections and shaped new river systems.[3]
- Etheostoma blennioides blennioides (Northern Greenside darter): ranges throughout Ohio River basin and north east into the Potomac and upper Genesee Rivers.
- Etheostoma blennioides gustelli (Tuckasegee Greenside darter): occurs in the headwaters of Little Tennessee River drainage, from the Cheoah River upstream and some tributaries of the Pigeon River of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina.
- Etheostoma blennioides newmanii (Highlands Greenside darter): occurs in the Cumberland and Tennessee River drainages of Alabama, Kentucky, and Tenneesee; also occurs in the Arkansas, Ouachita, St. Francis, and White Rivers of Arkansas and Missouri.
- Etheostoma blennioides pholidotum (Central Greenside darter): occurs in north flowing rivers of the northern Ozarks, the Wabash basin, the Maumee River drainage, and along the shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
Etymology
- Etheostoma: etheo means filter or strain and stoma means mouth.
- E. b. blennioides: referring to its resemblance to the Mediterranean blennies that Constantine S. Rafinesque knew in his early years.
- E. b. gutselli: patronymic for James S. Gutsell, aquatic biologist, who collected type.
- E. b. newmanii: patronymic for Francis H. Newman, aquatic biologist, who collected type.
- E. b. pholidotum: means scaled, referring to its fully scaled belly.[4]
Habitat
Etheostoma blennioides inhabits gravel riffles of large creeks to medium rivers and often found in swift waters over large boulders and large rubble.[5]
Systematics
Miller (1968) concluded that E. blennioides complex consist of four subspecies: E. b. blennioides (Northern Greenside darter), E. b. gustelli (Tuckasegee Greenside darter), E. b. newmanii (Highland Greenside darter), and E. b. pholidotum (Central Greenside darter).[6] Unpublished studies by R. L. Mayden and colleagues indicate that E. b. newmanii from the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers may be a valid species and distinct from other members of the E. blennioides complex.[7]Former subspecies, E. b. gustelli (Tuckasegee Greenside darter) has recently been re-elevated to species stuatus, E. gustelii (Tuckasegee darter) based on lack of hybridization.
Etheostoma blennioides belongs to the subgenus Etheostoma that contains Etheostoma blennius (Blenny darter), Etheostoma gutselli (Tuckasegee darter), Etheostoma histrio (Harlequin darter), Etheostoma inscriptum (Turquoise darter), Etheostoma lynceum (Brighteye darter), Etheostoma rupestre (Rock darter), Etheostoma sellare (Maryland darter), Etheostoma swannanoa (Swannanoa darter), Etheostoma thalassinum (Seagreen darter), and Etheostoma zonale (Banded darter). Etheostoma blennioides is further nested within the greenside darter group along with Etheostoma blennius (Blenny darter), Etheostoma gutselli (Tuckasegee darter), Etheostoma inscriptum (Turquoise darter), Etheostoma swannanoa (Swannanoa darter), and Etheostoma thalassinum (Seagreen darter).[8]
References
- ^ Boschung, Herbert T; Mayden, Richard L; Tomelleri, Joseph R (2004). The Fishes of Alabama. Smithsonian Books.
- ^ Miller, R.V. (1968). A systematic study of the Greenside darter, Etheostoma blennioides Rafinesquei (Pisces: Percidae). Copeia 1968: pp. 1-40.
- ^ Dyke, A.S. and Prest, V.K. (1987). Late Wisconsin and Holocene history of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Geogr. Phys. Quatern. 41: pp. 237-263.
- ^ Scharpf, Christopher (2008). North American Native Fishes Association: American Currents 34(4): pp. 20-26.
- ^ Boschung, Herbert T; Mayden, Richard L; Tomelleri, Joseph R (2004). The Fishes of Alabama. Smithsonian Books.
- ^ Miller, R.V. (1968). A systematic study of the Greenside darter, Etheostoma blennioides Rafinesquei (Pisces: Percidae). Copeia 1968: pp. 1-40.
- ^ Boschung, Herbert T; Mayden, Richard L; Tomelleri, Joseph R (2004). The Fishes of Alabama. Smithsonian Books.
- ^ Scharpf, Christopher (2008). North American Native Fishes Association: American Currents 34(4): pp. 20-22.