''Chologaster cornuta'', commonly named swampfish, ricefish, or riceditch killifish, is a freshwater fish of the

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

Amblyopsidae The Amblyopsidae are a fish family commonly referred to as cavefish, blindfish, or swampfish. They are small freshwater fish found in the dark environments of caves (underground lakes, pools, rivers and streams), springs and swamps in the easter ...

. It is the only living species of the genus ''Chologaster''. It only lives in US rivers in the Atlantic Coastal Plain drainages, from southeast

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

to central

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 ...

. 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 In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

is part of the family

(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 Vestigiality is the retention, during the process of evolution, of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. Assessment of the vestigiality must generally rely on co ...

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 and found in heavily vegetated waters. They are highly sensitive to

touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch ( haptic perception), as well as temperature ( thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It ...

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 amphipods,

ostracod Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant) have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typi ...

s, and copepods.

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