Etheostoma osburni

Etheostoma osburni, the candy darter or finescale saddled darter, is a species of fish in the family Percidae, a member of the group known as darters. This species is endemic to the eastern United States where it is known only from the Kanawha River system in the states of Virginia and West Virginia.[1]

Etheostoma osburni
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Percidae
Genus: Etheostoma
Species:
E. osburni
Binomial name
Etheostoma osburni
(C. L. Hubbs & Trautman, 1932)
Synonyms[2]
  • Poecilichthys osburni C. L. Hubbs & Trautman, 1932

This species can reach a length of 10 cm (3.9 in), though most only reach about 7.3 cm (2.9 in).[2] This species has a lifespan of up to three years. It spawns in April and May.[3] It is an invertivore, feeding on aquatic insect larvae and water mites.[3]

This species lives in a system of rivers, streams, and creeks in the central Appalachian Mountains. It can be found in rapid riffles in rocky riverbed habitat. It occurs in cold, cool, and warm waters, as long as the substrate is rocky and the water is clear. It tolerates fast currents.[1]

Though it has a limited range, it has been recorded in more than 10 locations and does not have a severely fragmented distribution, so it has been designated a near-threatened species on the IUCN Red List. It is probably declining, however, due to threats from human activity. It prefers clear, unsilted waters, and increases in silt and sediment may reduce populations by reducing tolerable habitat.[1]

Taxonomy and etymology

Etheostoma osburni was first formally species described as Poecilichthys osburni in 1932 by the American ichthyologists Carl Leavitt Hubbs and Milton Bernhard Trautman With the type locality given as Stony Creek which is a tributary of the Greenbrier River in Pocahontas County, West Virginia.[4] The specific name honors the American zoologist Raymond Carroll Osburn (1872-1955). The candy darter is considered to be closely related to the variegated darter (E. variatum).[5]

See also

Etheostoma osburni

References
  1. NatureServe (2014). "Etheostoma osburni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2014: e.T8124A13387979. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T8124A13387979.en. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  2. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2019). "Etheostoma osburni" in FishBase. December 2019 version.
  3. NatureServe. 2017. Etheostoma osburni. NatureServe Explorer V.7.1 Accessed 8 August 2017.
  4. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Poecilichthys osburni". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  5. Hubbs, C. L. & M. B. Trautman (1932). "Poecilichthys osburni, a new darter from the upper Kanawha River system in Virginia and West Virginia" (PDF). Ohio Journal of Science. 32 (1): 31–38.

Further reading
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