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Re: Fundulus catenatus
our first submission for the NFC amature writers contest........
On Sun, 27 Sep 1998 16:45:33 -0700 "The Halls" <dahall at lightspeed_net>
writes:
>The Northern Studfish
>David L. Hall
>813 Williams Ave.
>Madera, CA 93637
>dahall at lightspeed_net
>
>
>North America has many colorful topminnows (aka killifish). The
>Golden
>topminnow (Fundulus catenatus), the Bluefin killie (Lucania goodei),
>and
>the Banded topminnow or Pink Lemonade killie (Fundulus cingulatus or
>rubrifrons) are among the prettiest native topminnows. These
>southeastern
>fish are much sought after by both killie nuts and native fish
>enthusiasts.
> Fewer people are aware of the Midwestern topminnow called the
>Northern
>studfish (Fundulus catenatus).
>
>At first glance the Northern studfish is rather plain especially when
>compared to its southeastern cousins, in fact, the first time I
>captured
>one I threw it back. I was decidedly unimpressed with the yellowish
>brown
>torpedo-shaped fish and never gave it another thought until I picked
>up the
>booklet entitled "An Introduction to Missouri Fishes". The booklet
>contained a picture of a male Northern studfish in breeding color and
>it
>was striking. The photo showed a silvery blue fish with
>reddish-brown
>spots on the fins and a black band on the orange tail fin.
>
>My next collecting trip was spent in pursuit of the Northern studfish
>and I
>do mean pursuit. I saw several schools of the topminnow, but they
>remained
>just out of reach. Although the Northern studfish, like most
>topminnows,
>prefers to stay near the surface they can quickly dive to the bottom
>or
>leap out of the water to avoid capture. After several failed attempts
>to
>capture this elusive fish with a dipnet and one man seine I tried a
>new
>strategy. Noting several studfish near a shallow inlet I herded them
>into
>the dead end and scooped them up with my seine. I picked out several
>fish
>and headed for home.
>
>At home I put my newly acquired prizes in a 26 gallon aquarium with
>fresh
>gravel and no heater. The water had a neutral ph (7.0) and the tank
>had no
>plants. Since I knew many male killies are quite rough when spawning
>and
>that most killies prefer hiding places I placed some spawning mops in
>the
>tank for cover. (I had read that the Northern studfish spawns over
>gravel.)
>
>I had planned to set up a separate aquarium for spawning and after
>conditioning the fish I would move certain ones to the spawning tank.
>
>Later I had an occasion to remove the spawning mops to replace them
>with
>plants and I discovered eggs on the mops. This was contrary to my
>expectation and I was never able to get them to spawn again despite
>all
>the efforts to set up prime conditions. Although the eggs hatched I
>was
>unfortunate enough to lose the resulting fry before I could raise them
>to
>adult stage.
>
>The Northern studfish is rather large topminnow attaining the length
>of 5
>to 6 inches. The adults did quite well in the 26 gallon aquarium and
>proved rather hardy. I believe that these fish would make a fine
>addition
>to a native community tank and as they spend most of their time at
>the
>surface of the tank would do well with minnows and darters.
>
>
Robert Rice
Help Preserve our Aquatic Heritage join the NFC
email us at NFC at actwin_com
website http://nativefish.interspeed.net/
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