>Thanks for these and everyone's info. I have seen the breeding male >color
>of the taillight only in Peterson's guide. In all other books I >read
>there is no pic of bright red breeding male so I always wonder if >the fish
>is really red. Next question: how many morph/races of >yellowfin and
>greenhead shiner have been kept/bred by anyone here? I >have seen male of
>the red fin morph color up to light pink/red all >over the body with loads
>of tubercles on the head [especially the >forehead] and try to spawn with
>the female. The color seems different >than red with yellow head and fins
>seen on underwater pics in some >other fish books and magazines.
"Morph"? Hmmph!
Rob Wood and Rick Mayden (1992, Copeia, pp 68-81) looked at allozyme
variation across the range of both N. chlorocephalus and N. lutipinnis, to
test the purported "intergradation" between the two. Notropis chlorocephalus
is a valid species, and what we currently recognize as N. lutipinnis is a
paraphyletic complex of three diagnosable species. This is corroborated by
nuptial coloration and pharyngeal dentition patterns- males from the
Chattahoochee to Savannah drainages typically have red fins, Santee-Broad
River fish have yellow fins, and Lynches Creek (Pee Dee) pops have white or
yellowish fins. There was no evidence of intergression or intergradation
whatsoever. Don't hold your breath for a species description... Rob's busy
with Nothonotus and Rick is, well, busy on everything else except
Hydrophlox. (Hey Bruce- here's your golden opportunity!! ;)
Take the "New Testament" (Page and Burr 1994*) with a grain of salt- it's a
good place to start, but there's a LOT of undescribed diversity out there.
Anybody that tells you that the NA ichthyofauna is already taken care of is
deluding themself.
As for keeping them in aquaria, they do exceedingly well, eat flake food
voraciously, and would probably be very easy to breed (mine are in a packed
community tank- any eggs would get scarfed immediately). They maintain their
color quite well...
cheers,
Dave
* for those unfamiliar with the nomenclature, many NA ichthyologists refer
to Lee et. al's (1980) Atlas of freshwater fishes as the "Old Testament."
Only a small hint of irreverence is implied. ;)
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