Transcript Brook Stickleback Culaea inconstans

Brook Stickleback
Culaea inconstans
AKA: Common Stickleback, Pinfish and Black Stickleback
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/fish/fishspecs/brookstickleback.gif
Lou Ewinger
Morone chrysops (White Bass)
David Thompson
Iowa DNR
Morone chrysops (White Bass)
• Identification: Deep body strongly arched behind head;
deepest between dorsal fins; blue-gray above; silver-white
side; yellow eye; 4 to 7 dark gray-brown stripes on silver
white side
• Formerly treated as part of the sea bass family,
Serranidae, which closely resembles the Sunfish; is now in
the temperate bass family or Percichthydae
• Other names - white bass, striped bass, sand bass, bar
fish, rock fish, gray bass, silver bass, streaker
• Distribution: Mississippi River and lower reaches
of its tributaries, natural lakes in northwest Iowa;
St. Lawrence-Great Lakes, Hudson Bay, Miss.
River basins from QU to MB and south to LA,
also introduced into Atlantic and Gulf Coast
Iowa DNR
• Habitat: deep, quiet pools of medium to large
rivers and the mid-water environment of lakes
and reservoirs; They are most frequently found in
locations with sand and gravel bottoms in clear to
slightly turbid water
• Diet: fish, insects, and crustaceans
• Reproduction: the freshwater species do not build
nests; spawn at random in spring; give no care to
the eggs or young; the number of eggs produced
is proportional to body size
Michigan DNR
• Conservation status: common in many Iowa’s
natural lakes including: Storm, North Twin,
Blackhawk, East and West Okoboji, Spirit,
Minnewhasta, Upper and Lower Gar and Clear
lakes
• Recreational importance: sport fish? The season
is open all year; the daily bag limit is 30; the
possession limit is 30; there is no minimum
length limit (except in Big Creek)
• Other: White bass seldom live beyond 4 years
and few attain a size larger than 2 or 3 pounds;
Iowa state record was 3 pounds, 14 ounces from
West Lake Okoboji in May 1972
• References:
Iowa Department of Natural Resources. 2004. Iowa DNR Fish and Fishing.
Available at http://www.iowadnr.com/fish/iafish/whtbass.html
Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr. 1991. Freshwater Fishes of North America North of
Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.
Eddy, S. and J.C. Underhill. 1978. How to Know the Freshwater Fishes. Third
Edition. McGraw-Hill, Boston.
Michigan Department of Natural Resources. 2001-2004. Available at
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr
Identification:
•4-6 independent dorsal spines
•Very thin caudal peduncle
•Threespine sticklebacks have
caudal peduncle keel
•Colors vary, usually pale yellow to
olive green with darker splotches
•Only brook sticklebacks are found
in Iowa
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http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/Fishing/
aquanotes-fishid/bstickle.htm
Habitat:
Streams with moderate
current and sandy or gravel
bottoms
Small natural lakes
Low turbidity, clear water
Require vegetation for
reproduction
Diet: Small crustaceans,
insect larvae, snails, small
annelids, water mites,
water fleas and fish eggs
Distribution in Iowa: Northern
half of the state
Water mite
http://lakes.chebucto.org/ZOOBENTH/biotic.html
Water flea/
daphnia
http://www.wdc.keystone.edu
http://www.iowadnr.com/fish/iafish/stickleb.html
Conservations status: No
special conservation status in
Iowa. Have been introduced
outside of their native range
when used as bait.
Reproduction:
• Males build a cylindrical nest of weeds held together
by kidney secretions.
• Females deposit eggs
• Males protect the nest and newly hatched fry
• Males may spawn several times
• 40-250+ eggs
Recreational/ Economic
and Ecological Importance:
•Popular aquarium fish
•Occasionally used as bait
Lou Ewinger
•Gamefish prey where
abundant
Interesting Facts:
• One of the first native North American Fish to
become a popular aquarium fish
• Closely related to seahorses
• Only stickleback that is strictly freshwater
• Originally the TWRA banned them from being
imported into Tennessee. Thought the spines
would cause harm to game species that
attempted to ingest the fish.
• Genus name, Culaea, is meaningless. Originally
Eucalia inconstans.
References
Etnier, D.A. and W.C. Starnes. 1993. The Fishes of Tennessee. The University of Tennessee
Press, Knoxville.
Greenhalgh, M. 1999. Freshwater Fish, The Natural History of Over 160 Native European
Species. Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London.
Iowa Department of Natural Resources. 1994. IowaDNR Fish and Fishing. Available at
http://www.iowadnr.com/fish/iafish/iafish.htm.
Ohio Department of Natural Resources. 2004. Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife
Division, Life History Notes: Brook Stickleback. Available at
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/Fishing/aquanotes-fishid/bstickle.htm.
Zim, H.S. and H.H. Shoemaker. 1956. Fishes, A Guide to Familiar American Species. Simon
and Schuster, New York.