TN00130 TIPPECANOE DARTER ETHEOSTOMA TIPPECANOE
Physical description: This is a pale, speckled and/or barred darter with the adults usually from 20-30 mm SL. The body is moderate in profile and compressed with a moderate or moderately sharp snout. The frenum is moderate and the branchiostegal membranes are very slightly to moderately conjoined. The caudal fin is truncate and the female genital papilla is small, flattened or bulbous. The lateral line is incomplete, and the scales to the caudal base number (44)46-48(52). There are 13-17 unpored scales and 3-4(5) scales above the lateral line with 5-8 below the lateral line. There are (19)20- 21(22) circumpeduncle scales, 12-13(14) dorsal spines and 11-12(13) dorsal rays. There are 2 anal spines, (7)8-9 anal rays and (11)12 pectoral rays. The nape and breast are naked and the cheek is naked with 1-4 postorbital scales. Thw belly is scaled posteriorly and the opercle is scaled. The breeding male has blue and black bars and breast with the breast most frequently blue. The upper body is gold to gold-olive and the side is sometimes moderately orange. The belly is gold-yellow, sometimes with a blue wash. The opercle and gular area is gold to deep red-orange and the lips are yellow-orange. The caudal base has two yellow-gold patches. The first dorsal is subdistally gold to red-orange with the remainder of the fin olive-brown to tan. The second dorsal os olive distally, and basally, olive-brown to tan. The vental and dorsal few rays of the caudal with membranes and the distal third of the other rays are olive, occasinally deep red orange. Basally, the rays are dark blue to black, and the other fins are gold to yellow with a slight black peppering. The anal may have a deep red-orange hue. The females are subdued, generally mottled olive-brown possibly with a faint gold cast *4205*. Reproduction: Spawning males are territorial, guarding the eggs. The eggs are usually laid in 8-46 cm of water, at the head or tail of riffles *816, 4205*. Groups of 2-18 males were observed guarding their territories and eggs *1306,2208*. No observations of spawning acts have been recorded *835*. In Kentucky, the largest males occupy the deepest and fastest current *4205*. In an aquarium, they spawned in water 25-27.5 degrees C. The females are egg-buriers and have a sustained period of complete body burial. A single male may attend more than one female. Fecundity can be as high as 58 or 72 with a mean of 30.4 *4205*. Females from Clinch and Big Fork Cumberland rivers taken in mid-May to early July were very gravid, apparently prespawning. A female fron the Clinch on 4 August had eggs freely flowing. Many males in peak breeding condition were found during July in Tennessee. Spawning occurs in runs and riffles of gravel or sand-gravel. In Ohio, spawning areas were in current that was gentle but sufficient to remove silt. In a spawning or near spawning group in Kentucky, the largest males occupied the deepest, fastest current available and were segregated from females. Breeding fish in Tennessee were numerous in shallow swift areas. Females are egg-buriers and have a sustained period of complete body burial, with withdrawal from gravel and reburial also occuring. More than one female at a time sometimes were attended by a single male *9286*. Behavior: In the winter, this species usually retired into waters where the current was very sluggish and the depth between 2-5 feet *1306*. This species diet, based on 16 specimens from Clinch and Big South Fork Cumberland rivers, Virginia and Tennessee, consists of mayfly, caddisfly and midge larvae. Numerically midges dominated and volumetrically mayflies appeared to be the most important item *9286*. Origin: This species is native in Virginia *4205*. Population parameters: They may be entirely an annual species and all are mature in the first year *4205*. Aquatic/terrestrial associations: A sympatric species is N. camurum *2202*. Other associates are E. blennioides, E. variatum, E. zonale, Percina copelandi, P. phoxocephala, and Noturus stigmosus *789*. Hybridization with E. camurum was reported by Trautman and confirmed by Zorach *9286*. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: MAXIMUM LENGTH 1.8 INCHES, LATERAL SCALE ROWS 45-52, DORSAL FIN WITH 11-13 RAYS, NAPE, BREAST, BELLY, AND CHEEKS NAKED OTHER: A LIFE SPAN OF POSSIBLY OF 2 YEARS. *TN5052,TN5002,TN5017*
| Life History |
References for Life History Codes
9286, 789, 835, 1306, 816, 2202, 2208, 4205, TN5056, TN5002, TN5017
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