Okay I ID'd the last couple vouchers that I had here and have the rest of
the list from the troopers who rode it out until this morning.
I have 47 confirmed fish species on the watershed. Jeremy will have the
mussel count.
I have a new favorite fishin' hole, and it's only 20 minutes further from my
house than the Big Darby... And I can camp here too! :) Not to mention all
the other intact biodiversity (river otters anyone?). This watershed is a
fine example of how leaving healthy riparian corridors along the streams
rules out whatever upland farming practices go on. It doesn't hurt that the
land is well drained and they probably don't have tile everywhere... But
still. Man it was nice. When we can't think of a good convention spot, we
might wanna consider it.... :)
What we were lacking on was suckers, but with 8' seines, I think we did
pretty danged good. If we got into lake habitat, we'd probably find the
least and Iowa darters, maybe some chubsuckers... Do a little rod n reel,
and we'd see some of the bigger stuff. It's quite feasible in good weather
and good angling conditions to go well over 50 species in a weekend. That
or get someone who has a permit to use a nice sized seine :)
As the pictures and such come in, I'll make up the usual formal report,
filled with the usual tidbits, stories and such. But I was so excited about
the results, I thought I'd throw out a bone.
For those who were there...
The "steelcolor" were that other Cyprinella... Just elaborately colored
spotfin. It came down to counting anal rays. They do have the spotting in
the membranes, and I'm still glad I grabbed a 3 pack because they are such
nice looking fish. If there were steelcolor in the mix, it'd been a real
pain to count all those anal rays, with as many as we sampled.
The mystery Notropid I vouchered was a rosyface shiner (Notropis rubellus).
Good call JT. Was that what you took home as a voucher too?
There were pirate perch and hordes of brindled madtoms-in-the state park,
right under our noses!
After looking through the books comparing sand and mimics (which I'm lumping
as one "confirmed" species still without a couple vouchers here to play
with), I can't help but wonder if some that we were looking-in-were river
shiner. But they don't count since we didn't confirm them :)
Todd
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
http://www.farmertodd.com
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