Re: NANFA-L-- Brindled Madtoms & Mussels


Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- Brindled Madtoms & Mussels
From: Todd D. Crail (tcrail-in-UTNet.UToledo.Edu)
Date: Mon Dec 20 2004 - 15:18:10 CST


  ----- Original Message -----
  From: matt ashton

  In my half of an attempt a couple years ago to overwinter and breed brindleds in a "stream" set up I used flat rocks plants and wood debris and shells of fresh and weathered dead muckets and kidneyshells. The fish seem to prefer those as I found them underneat more. Alas no breeding ....
Yeah. We caught 3 and we really weren't picking up many valves, and the ones we saw were in valves still connected (even less frequently picked up). Man that water was cold. We were actually wishing we'd brough dip nets so we could kick the valves into the net. Oh well. The field season didn't end until December 17th. I ain't complaining ;)

And it was the same story for their winter homes... relict fat muckets and kidneyshells, how ever the heck you tell the difference between the two.

What's also interesting is where we were finding brindleds in the Tippecanoe. Mark or Bill... what was the substrate like-in-the Canoe Camp? Was is that fine sand and then cobble chutes with valves all strewn through it? The segment of the stream through the State Park didn't strike me as madtom habitat (except tadpole up in the slack areas) but they found a horde of them. It's the same story on the Darby. Fox Riffle is all northern madtoms (aw shucks, huh? ;) but no brindleds until you get down around the bend about a half mile and into the flatter, smaller substrates.

I have a strong hunch their success is tied to having copious mussel valves laying around in sand and cobble. Dr. Cavender has asked why there's brindled in the Blanchard (and huge ones too), but not in the Sandusky right next door, which is a great question (they might as well be the same stream). The places where I've been on the Sandusky have been pretty depauperate. Heelsplitter here, creeper over there. But I haven't sampled it much.

I don't know how you would test the hypothesis either... Does anyone know of a big population of brindleds _without_ mussels present?

Todd
The Muddy Maumee Madness, Toledo, OH
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
http://www.farmertodd.com

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: Sat Jan 01 2005 - 12:41:59 CST