Tangerine Dreamin'

As an Aquarist at the National Aquarium in Washington D.C., I have amazing opportunities to get out in the field and enjoy some of nature's little known secrets.  Among the perks are the ability to travel all over the U.S. and catch fish in order to keep my exhibits stocked with native species.  The picture below was taken during a collecting trip to the North Fork of the Holston River, looking for Tangerine darters (Percina aurantiaca). Although I didn't see any at this particular location, the view wasn't too bad....

Where the stream converges in the center of the picture above, we did find Redline darters (Etheostoma rufilineatum, pictured below) and Bluebreast darters (Etheostoma camurum, second picture below).  Both of these species can be found in strong riffles tucked around medium sized river-rocks, picking off prey as they get washed by.

It's safe to say that I have a particular fondness of the Redline darter.  So much so that I have a large tattoo of one.

Males of many native stream fish, including darters and shiners, color up during the spring and dawn breeding coloration to attract females.  At the time this photo was taken, (November) the male Bluebreast darter in the picture had lost most of his vibrant colors.  You can catch a faint glimpse of the light blue pigment just behind the gills which is how this fish gets its name.

As our quest continued, we finally made it to our destination on the Clinch River.  The picture below shows the preferred habitat of the Tangerine darter.  The confluence of the merging creek with the main river provides sufficient current for this large species of darter.

Here we were able to finally catch and photograph one of my favorites.  The Tangerine darter is a much larger species of dater than those found in the genus, Etheostoma of which there are approximately 250.  The genus Percina is composed of robust, elongated fish that tent to be found in more open-water habitats.  All darters are in the perch family.

This large male still retained some of his breeding coloration late into the fall.  This particular specimen was 5-6 inches in length.