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bgcajun at juno_com (B G Granier): NANFA-- Euryhaline fish
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From: bgcajun at juno_com (B G Granier)
To: nanfa at aquaria_net
Subject: NANFA-- Euryhaline fish
Date: Tue, 8 Jul 1997 19:28:33 -0500
Message-ID: <19970708.192833.3414.0.bgcajun at juno_com>
Where freshwater and marine waters mix, there can be a combination of
fish present that are known from their respective water, either fresh or
saltwater.
In Louisiana, at the boundary of the line delineating the area of
saltwater intrusion,
can be found euryhaline, freshwater and marine species.
Euryhaline is a term denoting those fish that inhabit either fresh or
salt water at any given time/opportunity. (Please correct me if I'm
wrong.)
Well, to make a long story short, let me tell you about some of my past
experiences.
I was fishing the marsh near Larose, Louisiana one day during the summer
using freshwater tackle and baits. I began the day by catching the usual
freshwater species such as warmouth, crappie and bass. About noon time,
though, something took my lure and sent my line zippping through the
water and my drag was screeching! I thought to myself that this fish
couldn't be any of the above species that I'd encountered
previously. I was right, after a brief skirmish, the fish that came to my
net was "none of the above". It was a Red Drum weighing about three
pounds, that had taken a crappie bait! The line was 8 lb. test and the
crappie jig was 1/16th ounce with a small hook tipped with a tube jig in
the popular bluehead/whitetail color!
When I switched to a more appropriate Red Drum rod and reel, using a
bigger hook and a shrimp for bait, then I hooked into another denizen of
the Gulf, an Atlantic stingray! After a brief battle, I identified it as
something I didn't need to become too familiar with, (a barb through any
of my body parts! ) and promptly cut the line to release it!
Now, the place where I was fishing is about 80 miles inland from the Gulf
of Mexico! So, I was totally amazed that the latter two species would be
there!
Now, I have a new word to describe this phenomenon, "euryhaline" fish !
Just last week, I mixed salt into a twenty gallon tank to bring the
salinity to the 1.014 specific gravity mark on my hydrometer, so that I
could house some brackish water species in this new setup. After two
days, I moved some Fundulus grandis into this tank and fed them. After
two more days passed, I noticed a fish that evidently didn't belong in
the same tank with the F. grandis, it was a crappie!
It seems that this fish jumped from it's thirty gallon tank (freshwater)
into the twenty gallon tank (brackish water), the two tanks are side-to
side; and was doing very well, thank you!
One other time, I had an established population of Adinia xenica (Diamond
killifish) in a twenty gallon tank positioned next to a freshwater tank
of Pteronotropis welaka (Bluenose shiner). While feeding the Diamond
killies one day, I saw the same thing,one fish that didn't belong there
and, I thought, shouldn't have survived the sudden and complete change
from freshwater to saltwater, but evidently they _are_ able to survive
such a drastic change with no ill effects!
Has anyone else had similar experiences? If so, please respond!
B.G. Granier
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