Re: NANFA-- A cyprinid aquarium, and pass the snakes!!

Bruce Stallsmith (fundulus_at_hotmail.com)
Sun, 09 Jan 2000 16:04:58 EST

I think I have _M. aestivalis_, partially on the grounds it doesn't look
like any _Nocomis_ spp. I did a search on _M. aestivalis_ in FishGopher, and
no one has collected them from Jackson, Marshall, Lauderdale, Limestone or
Madison counties, at least not for museum collections. Is it a distinct
local population? a new species? I'm honestly not sure... but it looks more
than anything else like the photo in "Fishes of Alabama" for _M.
aestivalis_, and secondarily like the drawing in "Freshwater Fishes". I have
2 of them, and hope to have a second witness at some point.

And I still don't carry snakes in my truck!

--Bruce Stallsmith
Huntsville, AL

>Bruce,
>
>Are you sure you've got Macrhybopsis? I've never seen orangish tails on
>them
>before- is there any chance you might have small Nocomis chubs instead?
>
>As for the snake handlers, one of them (The Rev. John Wayne "Punkin"
>Brown)in Jackson County made the news about two years ago when he was
>bitten
>and died. If anyone ever deserved it, this guy probably did- he had been
>bitten 22 times, and his wife (Melinda) died in 1993 after being bitten.
>The
>really sad thing about this is that Melinda had a major breach of faith
>after being bitten, and pleaded with the congregation to let her seek
>medical assistance. They refused, barred EMS personnel from entering the
>building to assist her, and prayed for her. She died right before Sheriff's
>deputies were able to serve a warrant to extricate her. One of Brown's
>friends left this amazing quote... "A lot of people don't understand us. We
>are just normal people, but we believe God's word."
>
>No one mentioned what happened to the snake in either case.
>
>Cheers,
>Dave

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