The Coosa darter (''Etheostoma coosae'') is a species of freshwater

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

, a darter from the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Etheostomatinae Etheosomatidae is a species rich subfamily of freshwater ray-finned fish, the members of which are commonly known as the darters. The subfamily is part of the family Percidae which also includes the perches, ruffes and pikeperches. The family i ...

, part of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Percidae The Percidae are a family of ray-finned fish, part of the order Perciformes, which are found in fresh and brackish waters of the Northern Hemisphere. The majority are Nearctic, but there are also Palearctic species. The family contains more than ...

, which also contains the

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Percif ...

es, ruffes and pikeperches. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the eastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Description

The Coosa darter is a robust species of darter which can be identified by having a blunt snout with a small mouth. The spiny part of its

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

is marked with bands of color and has a central red band along the whole of its length, although it does not possess the anterior ocellus found in many other species in the

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...

''Ulocentra''. Above and below this central band there are alternating clear and dark bans. In the soft-rayed part of the dorsal fin, the middle part of the membranes between each ray is red. The color of the body is yellow-olive, marked with 8-9 dark blotches located dorsally and on the flanks. The lower snout and the throat are pale green, while the

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

and upper and lower lobes of the

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

are turquoise. The blotches along the flank have a slightly green hue. The maximum recorded

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

for this species is , although the

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish m ...

of males is more commonly around and of females .

Distribution

The Coosa darter is only found in the Coosa River system, which drains into

Mobile Bay Mobile Bay ( ) is a shallow inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

and

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Habitat and biology

The Coosa darter is found in rocky pools and nearby riffles of creeks and small to medium rivers, as well as in streams. It feeds mainly on the larvae of

midge A midge is any small fly, including species in several families of non-mosquito Nematoceran Diptera. Midges are found (seasonally or otherwise) on practically every land area outside permanently arid deserts and the frigid zones. Some mid ...

and blackfly larvae, with smaller amounts of

cladocera The Diplostraca or Cladocera, commonly known as water fleas, are a superorder of small crustaceans that feed on microscopic chunks of organic matter (excluding some predatory forms). Over 1000 species have been recognised so far, with many more ...

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

mayfly Mayflies (also known as shadflies or fishflies in Canada and the upper Midwestern United States, as Canadian soldiers in the American Great Lakes region, and as up-winged flies in the United Kingdom) are aquatic insects belonging to the ord ...

nymph A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ty ...

s, and

caddisfly The caddisflies, or order Trichoptera, are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the b ...

larvae. Insects, especially

flies Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

, are more important in summer and crustaceans become more important in the winter. The Coosa darter is known to spawn from mid-March to mid-May. The female lays a single egg at a time, placing it in small cracks and crevices in wood, rocks, or other hard substrates. The male fertilizes the eggs as soon as they are laid. They may spawn in any position from horizontal to vertical.

Taxonomy

The Coosa darter was first formally described as ''Poecilichthys coosae'' in 1945 by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

Henry Weed Fowler (1878-1965) with the type locality given as a small creek in the Coosa River drainage within

Cherokee County, Alabama Cherokee County, Alabama is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,971. Its county seat is Centre. The county is named for the Cherokee tribe. History The area in ...

, near the settlement of Chesterfield.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has listed this species as being of "

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

" because it has an extensive range in the Coosa River system, has a large total population size, and has numerous subpopulations. In general, the population trend seems stable and no major threats have been identified.

References

*O'Neal, P. "Life history of the ''Etheostoma-coosae'' ''Pisces Percidae'' in Barbaree Creek Alabama U.S.." Tulane Studies in Zoology and Botany. 23.1 (1981): 75–84. Web. 23 Sep. 2013. *https://web.archive.org/web/20111002015239/http://www.bio.utk.edu/hulseylab/Fishlist.html *Ryon, Michael G. "The life history and ecology of ''Etheostoma trisella'' (Pisces: Percidae)." American Midland Naturalist (1986): 73–86. *Brogdon, Stephen M., Christopher R. Tabit, and Leos G. Kral. "Population structure of the Tallapoosa darter (''Etheostoma tallapoosae'')." Southeastern Naturalist 2.4 (2003): 487–498. *Bart, Henry L. "Spawning behavior of ''Etheostoma davisoni'' Hay." Copeia 1992.2 (1992): 537–539. *Storey, Casey Michael. Genetic population structure and life history aspects of the federally threatened Cherokee darter, ''Etheostoma scotti''. Diss. uga, 2003. {{Taxonbar, from=Q3753306 Etheostoma Fish described in 1945