--Bruce Stallsmith
Huntsville, AL, US of A
>From: "B.G. Granier" <bgkajun_at_worldnet.att.net>
>Reply-To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
>To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
>Subject: NANFA-- RE: Fundulus similus
>Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 13:41:24 -0600
>
>Thanks for your note to the NANFA e-mail list Andy!
>
>I don't know if I've ever sent this to the NANFA list, but back around 1996
>or
>so, my son and I went fishing in the salt/brackish water near Port
>Fourchon,
>Louisiana and while we stopped at the boat launch to maybe catch some F.
>grandis (Cocahoe minnows in the local jargon) with my cast net........
>
>I noticed a congregation of about 100 topminnows all swimming up into the
>very
>shallow, high-tide covered, shell and sand debris. As I watched them
>display
>the typical Fundulus spawning behavior, ie: arched bodies, males embracing
>the
>females and leaving a swirl of sand as they deposited one egg.......I
>realized
>that the coloration on the males was something I'd never seen before!
>
>I thought I'd discovered a new species! After I composed myself and
>retrieved
>my net from our truck, I found that the Fundulus were actually Fundulus
>similus....but with a big difference from the usual coloration that I would
>normally expect!
>
>The males had a cream-colored body with green highlights on the fins and
>were
>quite spectactular in their spawning coloration! After closer inspection, I
>realized that they were in fact Fundulus similus and not some new
>species....
>
>The time of day and the phase of the moon, ie: high tide at a full moon
>phase
>had drawn them up into the extreme shallows to deposit their eggs which
>would
>probably hatch in accordance with the next high tide in coincidence with
>the
>next high tide of the month.........this is strictly speculation and not
>scientific fact you see. But, given that most Fundulus eggs have a 14-17
>day
>incubation period, it makes sense to me. It was about 12 noon which was the
>forecasted time of high-tide, when we observed this frenzied spawning
>activity.
>
>This was the first full moon of May, something like May 5th if I remember
>correctly.
>
>Regards,
>
>BG
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