Etheostoma caeruleum
Rainbow Darter
NS
G5
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Percidae (Perches)
Etheostoma
Etheostoma caeruleum (Rainbow Darter)
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
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Characters
Body shape: elongated.
Distribution
North America: Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins from southern Ontario in Canada and from western New York to Minnesota, and south to northern Alabama and Arkansas in the USA. Isolated populations in southwestern Mississippi and eastern Louisiana, and in upper Potomac River drainage in West Virginia, USA.
Habitat Associations
Freshwater. benthopelagic. Found in: streams.
Biology
Adults inhabit fast gravel and rubble riffles of creeks and small to medium rivers (Ref. 5723, 10294); also found in streams (Ref. 10294). Feed on midge larvae, hydropsychid and hydroptilid caddisfly larvae, mayfly nymphs, and fish eggs (Ref. 10294). Distinct pairing during breeding (Ref. 36980). Eggs are found buried in the substrate (Ref. 7043).
Max length: 7.7 cm TL; common length: 5.2 cm TL; max age: 3 years.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; mating system: monogamy; nonguarders (brood hiders); parental care: none. Distinct pairing during breeding (Ref. 36980). Eggs are found buried in the substrate (Ref. 7043).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2011-12-07. Resilience: High (K=0.64-0.82; tmax=3; Fec=508-1462).
References
Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr (1991) A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 432 p.
Etnier, D.A. and W.C. Starnes (1993) The fishes of Tennessee. The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. (pls. check date).
Balon, E.K. (1975) Reproductive guilds of fishes: a proposal and definition. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 32(6):821-864.
James, P.W. and C.A. Taber (1986) Reproductive biology and age and growth of the yoke darter, Etheostoma juliae. Copeia 1986(2):536-540.
Martin, F.D. (1984) Diets of four sympatric species of Etheostoma (Pisces: Percidae) from southern Indiana: interspecific and intraspecific multiple comparisons. Environ. Biol. Fishes 11(2):113-120.
Comments On Etheostoma caeruleum