Etheostoma sagitta
Arrow Darter
NS
G3
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 sagitta (Arrow 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. Distinguished by having the following characters: body long and slender; snout long and pointed; caudal fin base with 2 black spots partially fused into short bar; straw colored to olive above, 6-9 brown saddles; 7-9 large green Us alternate with orange bars (faint on female) along side; yellow below. Breeding males with bright orange bars on side, red-orange edge on 1st dorsal fin, bands of red -orange spots on 2nd dorsal and caudal fins, blue-green anal and pelvic fins. Lateral line usually incomplete, with 55-69 lateral scales, usually 63 or more; and 49-66 pored lateral-line scales, usually more than 52 (Ref. 86798).
Distribution
North America: upper Cumberland River drainage in Kentucky and Tennessee, USA.
Habitat Associations
Freshwater. benthopelagic.
Biology
Inhabits rocky riffles and pools of headwaters, creeks and small rivers (Ref. 5723, 10294). Feeds on mayfly nymphs (heptageniids, baetids), blackfly and midge larvae, and lesser numbers of caddisfly, stonefly, and beetle larvae (Ref. 10294).
Max length: 12.0 cm TL.
IUCN Red List Status: Near Threatened (NT), assessed 2012-01-19. Resilience: High (K=0.67-0.79).
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.
Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr (2011) A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 663p.
Comments On Etheostoma sagitta