Greenside darter

Appearance

The greenside darters have an elongated body with a long and rounded snout. The dorsum is greenish-brown, with six or seven dark quadrate saddles and the sides with five to eight dark green, typically U- or W-shaped blotches. The nape, cheeks, opercle, and belly are completely scaled, with the breast naked. The anal fin has six to 10 rays and 13-16 pectoral fin rays, and both are bright green in breeding males; caudal fins are yellowish to clear; dorsal fin rays number 12-15, with red basal bands; breeding males have intensely bluish-green nasal and oral areas and sometimes black on the head.

Naming

* ''Etheostoma'': ''etheo'' meaning filter or strain and ''stoma'' meaning mouth
⤷  ''E. b. blennioides'': referring to its resemblance to the Mediterranean blennies Constantine S. Rafinesque knew in his early years
⤷  ''E. b. newmanii'': patronymic for Francis H. Newman, aquatic biologist, who collected the type specimen
⤷  ''E. b. pholidotum'': meaning scaled, referring to its fully scaled belly.

Distribution

The ''E. blennioides'' subspecies are believed to have diverged in separate drainage systems and glacial refugia during the Pleistocene ice ages, which destroyed older connections and shaped new river systems.
⤷  ''E. b. blennioides'' ranges throughout the Ohio River basin and northeast into the Potomac and upper Genesee Rivers.
⤷  ''E. b. newmanii'' occurs in the Cumberland and Tennessee River drainages of Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee; it also occurs in the Arkansas, Ouachita, St. Francis, and White Rivers of Arkansas and Missouri.
⤷  ''E. b. pholidotum'' occurs in north-flowing rivers of the northern Ozarks, the Wabash basin, the Maumee River drainage, and along the shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

Status

''E. blennioides'' is currently secure throughout its range, except in Mississippi, where its habitat was altered by the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.

Behavior

Greenside darters typically live for three to five years, grow to a maximum of 132 mm standard length and sexually mature at one to two years of age. Greenside darters are reproductively active from February to April in the Midwest and Southeastern United States. Spawning occurs over algae- or moss-covered rocks in deep, swift riffles that are guarded by males that vigorously defended against intruders. Females linger in pools below the riffle and move into a male's territory when ready to spawn. Eggs are viscous and stick together in small clumps on green algae , moss , and riverweed . ''E. blennioides'' is insectivorous, with analyzed gut contents containing Nematocera larvae, more specifically black fly and midge larvae. Significant numbers of mayfly and caddisfly nymphs were also found.

Habitat

Greenside darters inhabit gravel riffles of large creeks to medium rivers and often are found in swift waters over large boulders and large rubble.