Rainbow darter
Rainbow darter | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Perciformes |
Family: | Percidae |
Genus: | Etheostoma |
Species: | E. caeruleum
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Binomial name | |
Etheostoma caeruleum D. H. Storer (fr), 1845
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The rainbow darter (Etheostoma caeruleum) is a small species of freshwater
Life
The rainbow darter lives in clean, rocky
Distribution
The rainbow darter is a small,
Ecology
The rainbow darter is classified as
Life history
Darters have a wide range of life histories, but size correlates with most life history characteristics. For example, larger darters grow faster, live longer, produce bigger clutches, and have longer reproductive spans.[7] Mate selection by female darters is assumed to be common.[8] When examining the rainbow darter, life history traits were: average size 45 mm, growth 32 mm, maximum age four years, and clutch size 82.[7] E. caeruleum mates during the spring, typically when water temperature is between 17 and 18 °C, and they will leave their normal microhabitat in the rapids to congregate on pebbles, where the stream leaves a pool, to mate.[2] Once mates are selected, the fish mate repeatedly for several days until the female lays about 800 eggs.[2] This darter also displays group spawning, and the males tend to exhibit territorial behavior during the breeding season.[8]
Current management
Currently, the largest threat to E. caeruleum is run-off and pollution due to the population shift from rural to urban areas. One study found the development of an interstate highway negatively affected the abundance of several fish species, including E. caeruleum, because of decreasing quality of water of the nearby creek.[9] Currently, management plans consist of reducing nutrient, pesticide, and sediment loadings within such streams.[10] This same study suggests conservation practices should be a combination of both physical habitat monitoring and water chemistry monitoring, because it would benefit fish communities within headwater streams more than just implementing one conservation practice or the other.[10] Although broad management plans are in place for many rivers and streams and their fish communities as a whole, no current management plans in place are specifically designed for E. caeruleum.
References
- National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Fishes, Whales & Dolphins. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. October 1998. ISBN 0-394-53405-0.
- "Etheostoma caeruleum". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 30 January 2006.
- Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2005). "Etheostoma caeruleum" in FishBase. 10 2005 version.
- ^ . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ a b c d Kuehne, R., R. Barbour. 1983. The American Darters. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky.
- ^ Ray, J. M, R.M. Wood, and A.M. Simons. 2006. Phylogeography and post-glacial colonization patterns of the rainbow darter, Etheostoma caeruluem (Teleostei: Percidae). Journal of Biogeography (33): 1550-1558.
- ^ Adamson, S.W. and T.E. Wissing. 1977. Food habits and feeding periodicity of the Rainbow, Fantail, and Banded darters in Four-Mile Creek. Ohio Journal of Science (77): 164-169.
- ^ Carlson, R.L and G.V. Lauder. 2010. Living on the Bottom: Kinematics of Benthic Station-Holding in Darter Fishes (Percidae: Etheostomatinae). Journal of Morphology (271): 25-35.
- ^ a b Harding, J.M, A. J. Burky, and C.M. Way. 1998. Habitat Preferences of the Rainbow Darter, Etheostoma caeruleum, with Regard to Microhabitat Velocity Shelters. Copeia (4): 988-997.
- ^ a b Paine, M.D. 1990. Life history tactics of darters (Percidae: Etheostomatiini) and their relationship with body size, reproductive behavior, latitude and rarity. Journal of Fish Biology (37): 473-488.
- ^ a b Fuller, R.C. 2003. Disentangling female mate choice and male competition in the Rainbow Darter, Etheostoma caeruleum. Copeia (1): 138-148.
- ^ Ritzi, C.M., B. L. Everson, J. B. Foster, J. J. Sheets, and D. W. Sparks. 2004. Urban ichthyology: changes in the fish community along an urban-rural creek in Indiana. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science (113): 42-52.
- ^ a b Smiley, P.C., R. B. Gillespie, K. W. King, and C. Huang. 2009. Management implications of the relationships between water chemistry and fishes within channelized headwater streams in the Midwestern United States. Ecohydrology (2): 294-302.