An epic aquatic foray

A dream team crew of aquatic biologists seines for fish in Little Darby Creek in southwestern Franklin County, Ohio. After two reschedulings due to high water, yesterday's foray was perfect in every way: temps in the 60's-70's, blue skies, and perfect water levels. While I was the prod to get this trip afoot, great thanks to Anthony Sasson of the Ohio Chapter of The Nature Conservancy for his organizational efforts and tapping the involvement of the likes of Brian Zimmerman, Andrew Boose and other authorities on aquatic fare. I will take credit for getting the incomparable Laura Hughes to join us :-)

With this crew, we were assured of all manner of underwater wonders being found, and that's exactly what happened. It was one of the best days of aquatic exploration I've ever been part of. Ten species of darters were found (we missed two that are known from this locale), plus many other fish species. Lots of non-fish aquatic organisms as well.

This spot in Little Darby Creek is owned by Franklin County Metro Parks, as part of the sprawling Battelle Darby Metropark. Metro Parks deserves enormous credit for conservation efforts along the Darby Creeks, as does the Ohio Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Big and Little Darby creeks are exceptional warm water habitats and rank high among the finest streams in the Midwestern U.S.

Perhaps the showiest fish in our streams, the gaudy rainbow darter, Etheostoma caeruleum. This is a male in breeding colors, which they obtain and hold for a fairly brief period in early spring.

Note the peculiar lips on this male banded darter, Etheostoma zonale. This is another male in breeding colors. Darters are small members of the perch family, and lack swim bladders. They spend their time on the bottom substrate, rooting about for small animal life.

The pointed nose of this logperch darter, Percina caprodes, serves as a shovel of sorts to aid it in pushing pebbles around to uncover prey. Logperch are comparatively elephantine in regards to other darters, with hefty individuals reaching seven inches. Most of our other species are perhaps half that length.

A barred fantail, Etheostoma flabellare, offering a good view of its namesake tail. This small species is common in clean rocky riffles such as where we were working yesterday.

A small feeder stream entered Little Darby not far from our base camp of operations. A foray into that netted (literally) a few species that are mostly confined to small streams. This is one of them, an orangethroat darter, Etheostoma spectabile. This is a male in breeding colors. It's similar to the rainbow darter, and hybridizes with it, but differs in the conspicuous orange throat, completely aqua-blue anal fin (lower fin just before tail), among other differences.

A personal favorite, the gargoyle-like mottled sculpin, Cottus bairdii. These little predators become one with the rocks, hiding among stones on the stream bottom and lunging at passing prey.

Upon returning to base camp after following the survey crew upstream for a while, I arrived just as Laura Hughes found a stunning species of turtle. She's got it in hand in this shot, and I showcase the reptile in the following photo.

We lug our camera gear and other implements afield to make these shots. A small table on the gravel bar provides a stable platform. Several small aquariums stand ready to receive photographic subjects. The reasons for setting up operations streamside are at least threefold: 1) It's just easier to have everything so handy to the working site; 2) fishes in breeding condition lose their colors fairly quickly when removed from the stream and the exact water temperature which stimulated the coloration, and 3) we don't want to harm the subjects. By seining fish in close proximity to the photo operation, we can quickly release them back into the stream, where they were captured.

There's much more to making good fish photos, but I'll not bore you with details. Shooting into aquaria and through water, especially with flash, involves lots of nuances and efforts to keep water clear and tank sides clean.

Here's Laura's capture, a common map turtle, Graptemys geographica. This one must have been a female based on her size - they get much larger than males. By placing the turtle on the moist edge of the gravel bar, she gave us lots of photo ops. I was pleased to have the chance to create imagery of this species. Map turtles are incredibly wary, from my experience, and your mere appearance causes them to drop from basking logs and rocks before getting anywhere near the animals.

Another cool thing about map turtles is that they feed often on clams, which gives an indication as to their jaw power. Probably good to keep fingers away from those mandibles, although the turtles do not act particularly aggressive.

We found this rusty crayfish, Orconectes rusticus (I think; as always identification corrections are welcome), a female with eggs. Click the photo to enlarge and you'll better see the egg mass, which she carries under her tail. A protective mother indeed!

One of the seine hauls captured this cool little damselfly nymph, of an ebony jewelwing, Calopteryx maculata. Damselfly and dragonfly larvae are strictly aquatic and mostly out of sight and mind. The winged adults are often highly conspicuous.

It wasn't all wee fish. The survey crew brought up this fine specimen of a smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieu. It, of course, was released unharmed. The Darby Creeks are known for hosting good bass populations.

Finally, I'll end this fishy foray with one of our coolest catfishes, the stonecat madtom, Noturus flavus. There are five extant madtom species in Ohio, and this is probably the most common and widespread. Another, the Scioto madtom, Noturus trautmani, is perhaps Ohio's most fabled fish. It was only known from a handful of captures in Big Darby Creek, and is now considered extinct. The last captures date from 1957.

Madtoms are notable for their pectoral fin spines, which are armed with venom sacs at the base. Incautious handlers might receive a painful sting.

Thanks to everyone who was part of this expedition! It's always great to get afield with people who are not only top experts, but are passionate about their subjects, and conservation.

Earth Day Darters

I've been wanting to swim a few more darter shots into the blogoshere since a successful fishing mission to Big Darby Creek on April 10. And what better day to float these than Earth Day? Although relatively few people will ever get to see a darter firsthand, these colorful little perch family members speak volumes about our water quality, and how well we've cared for our streams.

Capturing darters using the "kick-seine" method. Holding the seine in the fast-flowing riffles in which most darters occur is a challenge, and the effort is increased by the need to move upstream and shuffle the rocks about with one's feet. This spooks the bottom-dwelling darters into the net.

All goes well, and you're in a good spot, and this is the result - a net full of fish.

We quickly transport our captures to streamside aquariums, and drop them in. After the paparazzi do their thing, the fish are released unharmed back into the stream. This day was challenging, as leaden skies cast little light, and spit rain. Keeping all of the glass spot-free wasn't easy.

Beautiful Greenside Darter, Etheostoma blennioides. Rather shocking, these emerald-green beasts. Who'd a thunk such things would lurk below the surface of an Ohio stream?

A multi-colored Rainbow Darter, Etheostoma caeruleum, peeks from the cobble. This is one of the most colorful animals of ANY type in the Midwest. An underwater world Painted Bunting.

Rainbow Darters are often abundant, and probably in a stream near you. It's great that such wondrous fish are common, and let's keep them that way.

A lunker of the darter family, a Variegate Darter, Etheostoma variatum. A big one might tape out at three inches or so. There are other darters in the tank with him, which his aroused his ire. Makes for better photo ops, as the male's will raise their colorful dorsal fins, which are sort of like piscine war flags.

A hard beast to photograph well, the Spotted Darter, Etheostoma maculatum. This is a male, and in good light they show a multitude of bright orangish-red speckles on the side. This species is decidedly NOT common, and is listed as endangered in Ohio. It is also a candidate for federal listing, as Spotted Darters are not common anywhere. Big Darby hosts one of Ohio's few populations.

Spotted Darters are dimorphic; the males and females look different. This is a female, showing gorgeous round speckling on the fins. It was photographed by taking a white plate, and forcing the fish to the front of the aquarium. The effect is a bit stark, but offers a field guide-like view.

It's Earth Day. Please do something good for Mother Earth today. Go outside. Learn a new bird or plant. Join a group. Get involved. Our planet needs all the help it can get.

Clams are more interesting than you might think

Today was a great day to be in a stream. And I was, in the Big Darby Creek just southwest of Columbus. The Darby Creek system is one of the finest, most biodiverse river systems remaining in the Midwest, and there are scores of interesting critters in the water. I was really fortunate to get to spend time with some of the state's top aquatic ecologists, and not only do they know where to find the goodies and what they are when they see them, they also know lots of natural history.

Our primary targets were fish, darters specifically, and I got lots of good shots of those. I blogged about Darby darters here, here, and here, but today's photos are improved over those earlier efforts. I'll stick some up soon.

But, we saw lots of freshwater mussels, too. These, on the surface, are nowhere nearly as interesting as darters, or nearly any other animal for that matter. But wait! There's more to the story.

Probably no group of animals in Ohio, and much of the Midwest, has been hammered as badly as mussels. Something like 70% of the 80 or so species documented in the state are now listed as endangered, threatened, or special concern. Why? Because they are so sensitive to changes in the delicately balanced underwater world in which they live. Too much siltation enters the stream, and these bottom-dwellers get smothered. Protection of our best remaining rivers like the Darbys is imperative if we are to ensure mussels survive and thrive.

The above is a Kidneyshell, Ptychobranchus fasciolaris, which is still abundant. This one is alive; one of our sharp-eyed scientists spotted it through the clear waters.

This is how most people find mussels. Old, dead shells on gravel bars. They are rocklike and probably last for decades. This shell is actually very fresh, probably less than a year has passed since the critter died. It is a Spike, Elliptio dilatata, another common species. Doesn't look like much from above.

Open it up and there's another story. Shiny and lustrous purple, this glossy nacre was the downfall of many a mussel. They were once harvested in vast numbers for the pearl industry. Some poachers still try. In the last ten or so years, The Ohio Division of Wildlife has made busts of nighttime poachers in the Muskingum River dredging up scads of mussels.

Now, if you find one of these shells in Ohio, and you know your stuff, you'll know you are along a special stream. This is the long dead husk of a Rabbitsfoot, Quadrula cylindrica, an endangered species in the state. Big Darby still has populations but they are gone or nearly so in Little Darby.

A researcher plumbs the depths, looking for mussels with the aid of a viewfinder. Basically a can or container with a clear glass bottom, it eliminates surface riffles and allows pristine views of the stream bottom, where the mussels lurk.

And Bingo! We've got a homerun. This is among the rarest of the rare, a Northern Riffleshell, Epioblasma rangiana, a Federally Endangered species. This is a female, under about two feet of water, and she's "displaying". And this is where these stonelike beasts get interesting. You see, they require fish for part of their reproductive cycle. She is displaying a white flaplike chunk of tissue, in an attempt to lure a darter.

If an inquisitive potential host, such as this Greenside Darter, Etheostoma blennioides, is attracted, it will sidle up to the riffleshell. If it is really smitten by the clam's lure, it'll lunge out and try and take a bite.

If we had a camera mounted within the riffleshell, this would probably be the darter's last expression before the mussel sprung into action. You see, as soon as the darter attempts to grab a chunk of mussel tissue, the riffleshell clamps down with incredible speed and force on the darter's head! Thus captured, the writhing darter, with no hope of escape, is forcefully blasted with a spray of glochidia, or larval clams. These lodge firmly within the darter's gills, and will mature there to a point where they can drop free and begin life on the stream bottom. After the darter has been thoroughly inoculated, the mussel releases it. What a way to reproduce!!!

I want to thank Mac Albin, Anthony Sasson, Brian Zimmerman, and Tom Watters for sharing their knowledge of Big Darby Creek and its interesting animals today. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service deserves major kudos for working to restore the imperiled Northern Riffleshell to the waters of Big Darby. They have released severl hundred into appropriate habitat, and the early prognosis is that the mussels are doing well.

Warblers of the Underwater World

When I first began my career, I had the good fortune to make many trips afield with Ted Cavender and Dan Rice, two of the top fish guys in Ohio. Once they saw I was truly interested in stream ecology and fish, they let me serve as labor on fields trip far and wide. In the process, I got to see nearly all of Ohio's fish, and learn them pretty well.

But that's been a while, and circumstances haven't let me look for fish in a serious way for a long time. For a few years, though, I've been threatening to make concrete plans with Mac Albin, another true fish guru, to work some riffles in Big Darby Creek. Finally, today was the day, and we couldn't have picked a better one. Warm air temperatures and low water levels made conditions for catching fish just perfect. And we're not talking Smallmouth Bass or Bluegill - oh, no, much more interesting piscine targets than those were our goal.

Our main quarry were darters. These are tiny members of the perch family, and they mostly lack air bladders and thus can't float. So one doesn't often notice darters, and you've pretty much got to make a special effort to find them. And darters truly are the warblers of the depths. At this time of year, males brighten up and their colors rival just about anything one might find in aquaria. Reds, oranges, blues, greens, you name it - darters are a rainbow palette of showiness.

Big Darby Creek, in Battelle-Darby Metropark. This 8,000-acre park protects large swaths of the Big and Little Darby Creeks, one of North America's standout river systems, and one of Ohio's most significant natural resources. More species of fish occur in these waters than any other Ohio stream, including many very rare ones.

For our subjects, we're going to have to go underwater, into rapidly flowing riffles like the one above. You see, most darters are torrent specialists, uniquely equipped to negotiate the unending rush of chutes and rapids. In some places, it is nearly impossible to find purchase and remain erect and holding a seine, so forceful is the sweep of the water. But if you can, there will be darters down there.

Mac Albin, left, aquatic ecologist for Franklin County Metroparks, and Anthony Sasson, freshwater conservation coordinator for The Nature Conservancy. They may be the two most knowledgeable people around whan it comes to the Darby Creeks, and it was a treat to spend time in the water with them. We spent about three hours working just one riffle and some assoicated habitats, and scored big time. In all, we got ten species of darters, most in good numbers. This would be like finding 30 species of warblers in one day in Ohio. For those darter listers among you, we had: Rainbow Darter, Bluebreast Darter, Spotted Darter, Tippecanoe Darter, Greenside Darter, Orangethroat Darter, Banded Darter, Johnny Darter, Variegate Darter, and Logperch.

Of course, a healthy stream has much more than darters. We dredged up this robust hellgrammite, which is the larval form of the dobsonfly. Fishermen love 'em for bait. They've got a decent pair of pinchers, and this one gave Anthony a good nip. Wish I had caught that on film!

Stonerollers, Campostoma anomalum. Fish are not easy to observe, and concerted efforts have to be made to check them out. Thus, most people don't know much about what lurks under water. These Stonerollers are males in their breeding finery. Just like birds, the males of many fish take on brighter colors and a gaudier appearance for a short while during the breeding period, which for many stream species is right now. Stonerollers are bottom-dwelling minnows, and normally don't look like much. But for a few weeks, the male's dorsal fin becomes infused with bright color, bluish-white warts known as tubercles appear on the head, and even the eye color seems to get brighter. In essence, they become real showstoppers.

Darters are aptly named. This is a Rainbow Darter, Etheostoma caeruleum, in habitat. They lack air bladders, and thus don't float. But this serves them well, and helps darters to anchor themselves to the cobble of stream bottoms in swiftly flowing riffles. There, they dart about with quick, abrupt movements, capturing an array of tiny macroinvertebrates and other stream life. Their stiff pectoral fins - fanned out to the sides in the above shot - are used as props, and help to hold the darter in place.

It isn't difficult to see how this species got the name Rainbow Darter. Breeding males are absolutely striking, enriched with bold greens, blues, and reddish-orange.

Although they appear exotic, like something that should be in a saltwater aquarium, Rainbow Darters can be quite common in appropriate habitat. Mac and Anthony seined up about 400 of them today.

Part of a male Variegate Darter, Etheostoma variatum, in breeding condition. The transition to breeding condition is triggered by water temperature. I think Mac told me that Variegates come into color when water temperatures hit about 48 degrees. This is another common species, and one that gets fairly large by Etheostoma darters standards. A whopper might stretch the tape to three or four inches. This is an extremely colorful darter; almost makes you blink and rub your eyes! Variegates are found only in Ohio River drainages in Ohio.

Variegate Darter on stream bottom cobble. Darters are especially sensitive to degradation of stream systems, as they require clear waters and clean substrates. Muck the stream up with too much sediment, and darters will vanish. Big Darby remains fairly pristine, in no small measure due to the hard work of Franklin County Metroparks and The Nature Conservancy. As Columbus and surrounding areas continue to grow, it will be increasingly difficult to protect the Darby, though. Hopefully we are up to it, and decision-makers can recognize the global significance of the stream, and its value to central Ohio.

I shot off 345 photos today, and a fair number were keepers. I'll share other underwater warblers as the week progresses, including a few of the real rarities.