NANFA-- Stonerollers!

Bruce Stallsmith (fundulus_at_hotmail.com)
Tue, 19 Jun 2001 23:58:16 -0400

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Stonerollers (Central, that is) as the most common fish in Ohio was too
obvious... I look forward to the convention this August to see what the
local _Campostoma_ look like. I had a gratifying experience this afternoon
with stonerollers in the spring run on the UAH campus. I was out primarily
looking for young-of-the-year stonerollers, which have become scarce in this
creek in the last week. The few remaining ones are much larger. Today I
looked more closely at the spring run and realized that it has a good number
of green sunfish and largemouth bass in the midstream, which is to say the
run is loaded with piscivores. While cogitating on the obvious I was
watching an area of the run around a low dam made of rocks from the riprap
on the banks; this dam is about kneehigh. While sitting and watching, I saw
what I thought was a snake just above the dam; it turned out to be a fast
moving stoneroller. Then I realized that a _whole school_ of adult
stonerollers (avg. length ~12 cm) was swimming up and over this dam! Only
one or two actually left the water, the rest made their way up through the
column of water flowing over the rocks. Very impressive... never
underestimate stonerollers even if to us they look like weird minnows.

--Bruce Stallsmith
Huntsville, AL, US of A
(p.s. UAH=University of Alabama in Huntsville)

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