Blackbanded Darter
Percina nigrofasciata
Swamp Darter
Etheostoma fusiforme
About
The swamp darter is a small, secretive fish of quiet coastal ditches and oxbow lakes in the eastern United States, patterned to disappear against dead leaves and mud.
Appearance
Its body is narrow and flattened from side to side, with a rounded head and a blunt, short snout that does not reach past the upper lip. The back is green to tan with small dark saddle-shaped marks and mottled dark green and brown patches, and about 10 to 12 square markings run along the flanks. The underside is white to yellow, speckled with black and brown. A narrow dark bar sits below the eye, and three dusky spots mark the base of the tail fin. Breeding males turn darker overall, with small bumps, called tubercles, forming on some of their lower fins.
Habitat
It lives in the lowlands of the eastern United States, from Maine south along the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains to Louisiana, and up into Mississippi River tributaries as far as Kentucky. It favours slow or still water such as ditches, oxbow lakes, and beaver ponds, usually in dark, acidic water, though it also does well in clearer water where there is enough plant cover.
Conservation
The swamp darter is classified as Least Concern overall, thanks to its wide range and large, generally stable population. Even so, it has disappeared from parts of its range where drainage, canal-building, pollution and silt have destroyed its habitat, and it is considered endangered at the edge of its range in Missouri.
Did you know?
No other darter species is found as far south as the swamp darter.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
