Re: NANFA-- puzzling blackfin darter

Mark B (mbinkley_at_earthling.net)
Sun, 8 Oct 2000 15:46:37 -0400

At 12:33 PM -0400 10/8/00, Bruce Stallsmith wrote:
>Jay, you beat me to it, I had just scanned this photo before I read your
>message... OK, this is pretty much the fish I have with the major exception
>that the first dorsal fin is red on the top half, rather than black as in
>the photo. The only other possibility I can offer is that my fish is a
>Johnny Darter, Eth. nigrum, which has been reported from the Paint Rock
>River system but not the Flint. Johnny Darters also seem to be a variable
>species; would some of them have a red first dorsal? That is the trait that
>keeps hanging me up.
>>Here's a scan of the blackfin darter Etheostoma nigripinne from Fishes of
>>AB: http://home.att.net/~stonecrop/ABblackfin.jpg

I would question the color representation in this photo since the fish
appears to have been preserved prior to the photo. The most obvious
difference between the pictured fish and E nigrum would be the mouth -
nigrum has a small, downturned mouth, versus nigripinne's larger, upturned
mouth. The short rays of the first dorsal on the pictured nigripinne seem
distinctive also.

Mark Binkley
Columbus Ohio USA <))><
mbinkley_at_columbus.rr.com

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