The Yazoo darter (''Etheostoma raneyi'') is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish, 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 Percidae, which also contains the perches, ruffes and pikeperches. It is endemic to north-central Mississippi in the United States, where it is found only in tributaries of the

Little Tallahatchie River Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

Description

Yazoo darters grow up to

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 ...

. Males are slightly larger than females and are brightly colored when breeding.

Distribution and habitat

The Yazoo darter inhabits small, clear, mostly spring-fed streams with substrates that include clay, sand, gravel, or silt. Its range encompasses headwater streams in the Little Tallahatchie River's watershed, including the Tippah River and Cypress Creek. The range includes

Benton Benton may refer to: Places Canada *Benton, a local service district south of Woodstock, New Brunswick *Benton, Newfoundland and Labrador United Kingdom * Benton, Devon, near Bratton Fleming * Benton, Tyne and Wear United States *Benton, Alabam ...

, Lafayette, Marshall, Tate, Tippah, and Union counties and parts of Holly Springs National Forest. Prior to 2020, populations in the

Yocona River Yocona River is a stream in the U.S. state of Mississippi. It is a tributary of the Tallahatchie River. The fish species '' Etheostoma faulkneri'' (Yoknapatawpha darter) is endemic to headwater streams of the Yocona River watershed, being found n ...

watershed were considered to be a unique clade of ''E. raneyi''. Based on mitochondrial DNA, it was initially determined that there are two monophyletic clades, those in the Little Tallahatchie River and those in the Yocona River drainages. Further genetic and morphological analyses determined the two populations were different species, with ''E. raneyi'' in the Little Tallahatchie River watershed, while the population in the Yocona River watershed was described as a new species, '' E. faulkneri''.

Behavior

Most individuals do not survive past their first year, and few individuals survive more than two years. Individuals primarily eat insects.

Status

Stream channelization River engineering is a discipline of civil engineering which studies human intervention in the course, characteristics, or flow of a river with the intention of producing some defined benefit. People have intervened in the natural course and be ...

and urbanization, particularly

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom ...

s have led to range restriction and declining populations of the Yazoo darter. The species is listed as near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, sensitive by the United States Forest Service, globally imperiled by The Nature Conservancy, and vulnerable by the Southeastern Fisheries Council and American Fisheries Society.

Taxonomy and etymology

The Yazoo darter was first formally described in 1994 by Royal Dallas Suttkus and Henry L. Bart with the type locality given as Hurricane Creek, a tributary to Tallahatchie River in the

Yazoo River The Yazoo River is a river in the U.S. states of Louisiana and Mississippi. It is considered by some to mark the southern boundary of what is called the Mississippi Delta, a broad floodplain that was cultivated for cotton plantations before the ...

drainage, at Mississippi Highway 7 in Lafayette County, Mississippi. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honors 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 ...

Edward C. Raney Edward is an English language, English given name. It is derived from the Old English, Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements ''wikt:ead#Old English, ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and ''wikt:weard#Old English, weard'' "gua ...

(1909-1984) of Cornell University.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3758732 Endemic fauna of Mississippi Etheostoma Fish described in 1994