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fishTri-spot darter, Etheostoma trisella

Classification
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Percidae

Species description
The tri-spot is a small darter that is less than 5.9 cm (2.3 in) long.  It has three dark spots, or saddles between its dorsal fins and a single anal spine.  It is yellow-brown in color on the back and yellow or white on the belly side.  Also, below the eye is a thin bar.  Breeding males have slight coloration changes and appear more of a bright orange color with green blotches on the side.  Red spots also develop along some dorsal fins of the males.

Life cycle
The darter spawns in flooded grasslands or wooded swamps during winter and early spring.  Its lifespan is about three years.  Males and females swim together upstream in the current to breed.  Once eggs are released and fertilized they fall and adhere to plants, rocks, or other substrate on the streambed.  Juveniles and adults will return to the non-breeding habitat of backwaters in late spring.

Natural history
The tri-spot has two distinct habitats.  The non-breeding is composed of backwaters that are clear and slow or eddies of small streams hat have cobble, pebble, and gravel bottoms that are often covered with a thin layer of silt.  The breeding habitat is springtime flooding of the stream over marsh grasslands in lowland areas that are adjacent to the non-breeding habitat.  Tri-spot darters feed on midge, aquatic insect larvae, mayflies, and small aquatic crustaceans.

Range
In Georgia the tri-spot darter is found in the Conasauga River and Coosawattee rivers and in a tributary to the Oostanaula River.  It is also found in portions of the upper Coosa River system in Alabama and southeastern Tennessee.

Conservation status
The trispot darter is listed as threatened in the state of Georgia.

 

 

 

 

 

Text by:
Elizabeth Reitz - GA MNH / UGA, Athens, GA

Poster Concept and Design:
Paul D. Johnson - Concept, TNARI, Cohutta, GA
Jeffrey C. Worley - Design, Tennessee Aquarium, Chattanooga, TN