Yepper, Notropis is tough. And they stinkin' croak on you while you're trying
to just learn.
I think the easy key characteristic for a decently sized ironcolor specimen is
the dark coloration _all the way around_ the mouth. That's what has stood out
at me in each of the guides I've compared the two.
The guide from the nice folks in Michigan comes in handy here:
Ironcolor:
http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/spatialdatalibrary/pdf_maps/fish_atlas/illustratio
ns/notcha.pdf
Weed:
http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/spatialdatalibrary/pdf_maps/fish_atlas/illustratio
ns/nottex.pdf
The main page is found at:
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/1,1607,7-153-10371_14793-30538--,00.html
You will find a great deal of overlap in Illinois.
In your situation you may also have blackchin and blacknose shiner involved.
They will both have black around the mouth, but the mouth is very oblique, or
straight up and down vs straight back, as found in the ironcolor and weed
shiners.
Blackchin:
http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/spatialdatalibrary/pdf_maps/fish_atlas/illustratio
ns/notheterod.pdf
Blacknose:
http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/spatialdatalibrary/pdf_maps/fish_atlas/illustratio
ns/notheterol.pdf
Also, Becker's Fishes of Wisconsin is available if you download their reader.
It's all free as well.
http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/greatlakesfish/becker.html
Yeap. As a Pleistocene relict the size that it was, it probably had cryptic
species galore, as populations were totally disjunct for a dozen thousand
years, not to mention the weird distribution of northern and southern species.
Pugnose, ironcolor, blackchin and blacknose would be some I'd say are
candidates for genetic research. Hopefully the reclaimation efforts going on
will close some of those ditches. I'm not holding my breath though. "You say
you want to CLOSE a ditch? Boy, you crazy or somethin'?" :)
Todd
________________________________
From: owner-nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org on behalf of Uland Thomas
Sent: Wed 8/16/2006 5:49 PM
To: nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org
Subject: RE: NANFA-L-- ID help
Thank you for your input Todd.
I was worried you might say Ironcolor. I catch a similar Notropis in many
nearby ditches that have quite different color above the lateral stripe. This
fish is rather pale and has slightly silvery scales on it's side compared to
what I thought was Ironcolor shiners. The silvery reflections don't show well
in the photo I provided. What are the chances this is an Ironcolor and the
"darker" shiner I find is a Weed shiner or vice versa? I'm having a hard time
figuring out which is weed shiner and which is Ironcolor without harming the
fish. I know it's silly but I want to know.
The draining of the Grand marsh (1/2 million acres) about a 100 years ago
damaged what I could imagine to be beautiful wetland with quite an interesting
group of fish. Many still remain in the ditches that drained the marsh but in
much lower numbers hanging on for dear life.
Thanks again,
Uland
"Crail, Todd" <tcrail-in-UTNet.UToledo.Edu> wrote:
Uland,
Looks like you caught a state threatened ironcolor shiner, Notropis
chalybaeus.
Of all the destroyed wetlands and connected terrestrial systems in this
country... I'm under the impression that the Kankakee is the most criminal of
all, esp as late as the destruction occurred.
Todd
The Muddy Ditch Madness, Toledo, OH
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
http://www.farmertodd.com <http://www.farmertodd.com/>
________________________________
From: owner-nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org on behalf of Uland Thomas
Sent: Wed 8/16/2006 4:11 PM
To: nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org
Subject: NANFA-L-- ID help
I caught and released this fish from Kankakee county Illinois from an area
that was once a vast marsh. I have a guess, but wanted some possitive ID help
with this fish.
http://imagesocket.com/view/unknown_shiner53d.jpg
Thanks
Uland
Where the river flows backwards
Next-gen email? Have it all with the all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta.
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Where the river flows backwards
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta.
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