Marbled Darter (Etheostoma marmorpinnum)

Scientific name: Etheostoma marmorpinnum Blanton & Jenkins, 2008

The Marbled Darter (Etheostoma marmorpinnum) is a freshwater fish of the family Percidae.

Biology

Etheostoma marmorpinnum is distinguished from all other members of the species complex by higher percentage of belly covered by scales (60?80% vs. 10% or less); higher percentage of body area along the first dorsal-fin base covered with scales (100% vs. 70% or less); dark distinct marbling in second dorsal fin of nuptial males (vs. lighter diffuse marbling or marbling absent); narrower band width for caudal fin (range = 12?15% of fin length vs. 15?25%) and anal-fin (range = 29?33% vs. 33?58%); more scales around caudal peduncle (25 vs. 23 or 24); and higher first dorsal fin (D1H, =117 vs. 105 or less). The species is further distinguished from E. percnurum by fewer caudal fin rays (15 vs. 18); narrower distal band on pectoral fin (range = 17?20% vs. 27?32% of fin length) and second dorsal fin (14?21% vs. 23?25% of fin height); and by prominent tessellation of medial region of caudal fin of nuptial males (vs. uniformly dusky). Further distinguished from E percnurum and E. sitikuense

Source: FishBase, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

Species facts

Scientific name
Etheostoma marmorpinnum
Family
Percidae (Perches)
Order
Perciformes (Perch-like fish)
Class
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Maximum length
4.1
Environment
Freshwater; benthopelagic
Climate
Temperate
Distribution
North America: USA. Etheostoma marmorpinnum occurs in lower Little River (Tennessee drainage), Blount County, Tennessee, but is generally rare in the upstream reaches. The species does not appear to be continuously distributed. The stronghold is just upstream of the backwaters of Fort Loudoun Reservoir (Layman 1991). Also known from a single specimen from the South Fork Holston River in Sullivan County, Tennessee, collected in 1947, three years before construction of the South Fork Holston Dam was completed. The capture site was 0.6 rkm above the dam, whose tailwater has long been and continues to be cold-water. The species is now extirpated from the Holston River.
Conservation status (IUCN)
Not Evaluated
Threat to humans
Harmless
Uses
Fisheries:
Resilience
High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.)

Sources

Taxonomy, distribution and biology data: FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds.), licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

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