''Chologaster cornuta'', commonly named swampfish, ricefish, or riceditch killifish, is a freshwater fish of the family Amblyopsidae. It is the only living species of the genus ''Chologaster''. It only lives in US rivers in the

Atlantic Coastal Plain The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

drainages, from southeast Virginia to central Georgia. It lives up to two years. The Latin name refers to a very tiny horned bulge at front of the eye. They are commonly long, but may reach about .

Characteristics

This species is part of the family Amblyopsidae (typically known as cavefish or blindfish). It is dorsally brown and ventrally creamy white, with three dark stripes on each side. It inhabits above-ground swamps, rather than caves as most other species in its family. Although many Amblyopsidae species have vestigial eyes, the swampfish has functional eyes.

Behavior

''Chologaster cornuta'' feeds mostly at night, on small crustaceans and aquatic insects. It spawns in March and April. Although locally common, individuals are hard to spot because they are largely

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

and found in heavily vegetated waters. They are highly sensitive to touch and light, and will quickly move away from a source of either, hiding on the bottom until dark. Its thigmotaxic tendency is shown by the difficulty in seining it from the roots and debris of its preferred habitat along edges of submerged weed banks which border sand-bottomed channels. This fish is found over vegetation and debris in swamps, sloughs, and quiet pools and backwaters of streams. They prefer highly oxygenated water and have a high temperature tolerance. they are found year-round in small and well-shaded open streams, where temperatures never exceeding 23 °C. This habitat is rich in potential food for ''C. cornuta'', such as

amphipod Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far descr ...

s, ostracods, and

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...

References

External links

Information page
* http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Chologaster+cornuta {{Taxonbar, from1=Q2964399, from2=Q19357039 Amblyopsidae Fauna of the Southeastern United States Fish of the United States Fish described in 1853