Re: NANFA-- Striped shiners, Luxilus chrysocephalus

Bruce Stallsmith (fundulus_at_hotmail.com)
Thu, 21 Mar 2002 10:51:13 -0500

<x-flowed>
>To confuse matters even more for those trying to breed these minnows, some
>specimens of L. chrysocephalus have been observed picking up stones
>(instead
>of merely pushing them with their snouts) and dropping them on the spawning
>site. Whether this behavior constitutes rudimentary nest building, egg
>burial (to protect them from predators), or substrate cleaning is unknown.
>
>Clearly, the study of Luxilus is a gold mine for behavioral biologists.
>
>
>Chris Scharpf
>Baltimore
Thank ye, Chris. I would've guessed that there would be some conserved
phylogenetic similarities within the genus (and I don't have the Goldstein
tome). I've always heard that chrysocephalus was associated with
nestbuilding aggregations of other minnows, so I figured that was the most
obvious answer. But I've never seen any descriptions of aquarium breeding,
which seems strange given how common the fish is.

--Bruce Stallsmith
Huntsville, AL, US of A
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"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_at_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_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org
</x-flowed>