RE: NANFA-- Banded Killi Conservation

Bruce Stallsmith (fundulus-in-hotmail.com)
Thu, 20 May 2004 08:26:24 -0400

If diaphanus is in trouble, you have a real problem! One way to look-in-
population status is to look for young-of-the-year. With diaphanus you
should find them in shallow water in emergent population. They look like
tiny versions of the adults, maybe not as darkly banded. You could do
size-frequencies of collected YOY to see if you find evidence of cyclical
pulses of breeding (i.e., any lunar influence?). With adults, you could look
at some kind of catch-per-unit-of-effort like how many fish are caught in
five seines along a beach, or some other effort. You could even look-in-
available sandy bottom versus muddy bottom as that might affect diaphanus.

There have been studies done in New England examining the effects of
introduced basses on native shiner populations. Not surprisingly, most
shiners have declined in the face of an introduced top predator. It would be
interesting to compare diaphanus in ponds with and without bass, but I
suspect all local ponds would have bass in them.

If the scouts even know what diaphanus is, that's a pretty good start too!

--Bruce Stallsmith
Huntsville, AL, US of A

>From: bast-in-gis.net
>Reply-To: nanfa-in-aquaria.net
>To: nanfa-in-aquaria.net
>Subject: NANFA-- Banded Killi Conservation
>Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 07:37:12 -0400
>
>Hello All,
>
>I am involved with a Boy Scout camp in Plymouth, MA. The camp is
>located in a classic Sand Plain/Pine Barrens ecosystem. There are many
>coastal plain ponds in and around the camp. Banded Killifish (F.
>diaphanus) is the only native "minnow" (in laymen's terms) in these
>lakes and ponds. The other species in the area Largemouth Bass
>(introduced), Yellow Perch (native), Pumpkinseeds (native), Bluegills
>(introduced), Chain Pickerel (native), Brown Bullheads (native),
>American Eel (native) and a few ponds have Swamp Darters (native).
>
>I am wondering if there is anything that can be done to bolster the
>killifish populations? I have no data that suggests a decline in the
>killi populations. (I do have a feeling that I don't see as many killis
>now as in the past.) It could be a good project for the scouts and way
>to introduce the native fish conservation to them.
>
>Thank you,
>
>Brian Bastarache
>Natural Resources Mgt Program
>Bristol Co. Agricultural School
>Dighton, MA
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa-in-aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request-in-aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request-in-aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org