Re: NANFA-- Rainbow shiners spawning

Bruce Stallsmith (fundulus_at_hotmail.com)
Fri, 09 Feb 2001 09:50:50 -0500

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>Um Bruce, the shots are undoctored... shot as is
>algae and all. This strain is different than the ones
>you have. These are from the southern end of the
>range and are a smaller and more colorful fish than is
>found around Fort Payne. I also have an aquarium full
>of ones Casper, Luke and I caught last fall....they
>haven't blossomed into their breeding dress yet and
>its very very hard to tell the differences in sexes in
>the fort payne collection with any certainty. I have
>a third location from along the Conasauga that is
>virtually identical to the Ft Payne collection. The
>christmas moss and ludwigia I collected there is
>growing well in my aquariums so those tanks dont have
>the algae. Hopefully, these will decide to spawn
>also, so I can get a better grasp of their sexual
>dimorphism. The ones from southern alabama are very
>easy to separate into sexes...with the males always
>showing quite a bit of the metallic blue.

Well, not really astounded, I have faith in your photography. So your
population is from the lower Alabama River? I think this species is really a
complex of somewhat differentiated populations, from the Alabama, Cahaba,
Coosa and up into the Conasauga systems (but not the Tallapoosa...). Mine
are from Collinsville, AL, in Little Willis Creek (which runs into the
Coosa), just east of I-59, which seems to have become the nexus for rainbow
shiner collecting (it's easy, for one thing). A tip to any grad students
looking for a research project--this species' ecology is still largely
unknown.

--Bruce Stallsmith
Huntsville, AL

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