The blackstripe topminnow, ''Fundulus notatus'', is a small freshwater fish in the family

Fundulidae Fundulidae is the family of topminnows and North American killifishes. Distribution The 46 species are native to North America as far south as Yucatan, and to the islands of Bermuda and Cuba, occurring in both freshwater and marine environments. ...

, found in central

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Distribution

The blackstripe topminnow is found in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

along a roughly 60 kilometre stretch of Ontario's

Sydenham River The Sydenham River is a river in Chatham-Kent, Lambton County and Middlesex County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, flowing southwest from its source west of London, Ontario and emptying into Lake Saint Clair. The length of the river is and it ...

. In the United States, it occupies other parts of the southern drainage of lakes

Erie Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

and

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

and also the

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

drainage basin between

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

and the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

. The entire Canadian population of this small freshwater fish lives along a roughly 60 kilometre stretch of the Sydenham River in southwestern Ontario where its presence was discovered only in 1972, the blackstripe topminnow is a fairly hardy fish although its greatest threats come from changes to its habitat due to human activity.

Description

The blackstripe topminnow gets its name from the horizontal black stripe that runs the length of its body along its sides. The fish has a small mouth that turns slightly upward, and has a flat-topped head with a multi-coloured spot on it. The average length of this fish is between 5 and 7 cm. The males and females look distinct from one another. Males have dark vertical bars above and below their stripes, yellow-hued fins, and their dorsal and anal fins are longer and more pointed. Females have no bars, white fins and shorter, more rounded dorsal and anal fins.

Life history

Blackstripe topminnows have a lifespan of around two to three years. They are normally found in water with a slow current where there is vegetation along the river bank which provides a good amount of cover along the waters edge. They tend to stay near the surface in summer and feed on

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s. They also eat insect

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e in the water, as well as tiny

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

s, spiders and

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

s. In the winter, they retreat to deeper water.

Spawning Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquati ...

occurs between May and August. Females lay 20 to 30 eggs; these are fertilized and tucked away in underwater vegetation one at a time by the males.

Conservation

Although this population in Canada seems to have remained stable in recent years, it faces several environmental risks. This species is dependent on both aquatic and marginal vegetation which is important as a source of insects for them to prey on. Livestock threaten this vegetation either by destroying by trampling or by grazing. The drainage of wetlands can cause the flow of creeks and streams to be altered, possibly affecting the magnitude and viability of local populations of blackstripe. Water abstraction for irrigation is another threat for this fish, especially when there is low water or drought. Oil seepage from equipment and vehicles could harm the blackstripe topminnow because of its habit of feeding at the surface of the water where slicks occur. First designated as a species of Special Concern by COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) in April 1985, its status was re-examined and confirmed in May 2001 and May 2012. The blackstripe topminnow is now listed in Canada under the federal

Species at Risk Act The ''Species at Risk Act'' (SARA) (the ''Act'') is a piece of Canadian federal legislation which became law in Canada on December 12, 2002. It is designed to meet one of Canada's key commitments under the International Convention on Biological D ...

(SARA). As well, the federal Fisheries Act prohibits destruction of fish habitat. The blackstripe topminnow is also one of many species covered by the Sydenham River Recovery strategy. The Sydenham River Recovery Strategy, completed in 2003, was the first recovery strategy in Canada to use an ecosystem approach for aquatic species. The blackstripe topminnow is now being protected as part of a larger plan to return the Sydenham River's ecosystem to health.

References

External links

Blackstripe topminnow (''Fundulus notatus'') illustrations
from Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Accessed December 2, 2007.
Blackstripe topminnow illustration
from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Accessed December 2, 2007. * https://web.archive.org/web/20070710014516/http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/species/species_blackstripe_topminnow_e.asp {{Taxonbar, from=Q577437 Blackstripe topminnow Freshwater fish of the United States Fish of Canada Fish of the Eastern United States Fish of the Great Lakes Fish described in 1820 Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque