Description

Potentially Misidentified species- Etheostoma blennioides (Greenside Darter) is introduced to both the Susquehanna and Potomac River systems, while E. zonale is introduced only to the Susquehanna. Males of both fishes have color patterns with vertical bands on the body, and 'rainbow' stripes on the fins, but differ in the details (Page and Burr 1991; Jenkins and Burkhead 1993).

Taxonomy

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family	Genus
Animalia	Chordata	Osteichthyes	Perciformes	Percidae	Etheostoma

Synonyms

Etheostoma caerulea

Invasion History

Chesapeake Bay Status

First Record	Population	Range	Introduction	Residency	Source Region	Native Region	Vectors
1977	Established	Expanding	Introduced	Unconfirmed	North America	North America	Fisheries(Discarded Bait)

History of Spread

Etheostoma caeruleum (Rainbow Darter) is native to the Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi-Ohio River basins from MN and AR east to Ontario, NY, and GA, including western PA, WV and VA. Its usual habitat is gravelly riffles of fast-0flowing small and medium streams (Page and Burr 1991; Jenkins and Burkhead 1993; Stauffer et al. 1995; USGS Nonidigenous Aquatic Species Program 2014).

In 1977, it was first collected in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, in the South Branch of the Potomac River WV. It has steadily expanded its range downstream,and up the Rivers side branches reaching Sideling Hill Creek, near Hancock MD by 1994. by 1998, this darter had reached Goose Creek and Broad Run, ~400 km from the 1979 collection site. In 2012, the Rainbow Dater was collected in Cabin John Creek MD, about 10 km from the head of tide of the Potomac, at Chain Bridge, Washington DC (Cessna et al. 2014). This fish has also been introduced to the Genessee River NY, where it was first collected in 1982, and it has been collected once in the Mohawk River, near Schenectady NY, in 2013 (USGS Nonidigenous Aquatic Species Program 2014). A web search indicates that these colorful fish are occasionall kept and sold in the aquarium trade, but bait-bucket transfers are a much more likely mode of introduction.

The Rainbow Darter may soon reach the tidal waters of the Potomac River, but is unlikely to spread far into the estuary, given its preference for flowing waters, cool temperatures, and gravel bottoms.

Invasion Comments

None

Ecology

Environmental Tolerances

	For Survival		For Reproduction
	Minimum	Maximum	Minimum	Maximum
Temperature (ºC)	0.0	36.0	17.0
Salinity (‰)	0.0		0.0
Oxygen	None
pH
	Salinity Range	fresh-oligo

Age and Growth

	Male	Female
Minimum Adult Size (mm)
Typical Adult Size (mm)		55.0
Maximum Adult Size (mm)	77.0	77.0
Maximum Longevity (yrs)	3.0
Typical Longevity (yrs

Reproduction

	Start	Peak	End
Reproductive Season
Typical Number of Young Per Reproductive Event
Sexuality Mode(s)
Mode(s) of Asexual Reproduction
Fertilization Type(s)
More than One Reproduction Event per Year
Reproductive Startegy
Egg/Seed Form

Impacts

Economic Impacts in Chesapeake Bay

Etheostoma caeruleum (Rainbow Darter) is occasionally kept as an aquarium fish, and is admired for its beauty, but has no economic value in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Economic Impacts Outside of Chesapeake Bay

Etheostoma caeruleum (Rainbow Darter) is occasionally kept as an aquarium fish, and is admired for its beauty by native fish enthusiasts, but is apparently not widely sold in the aquarium trade, based on Web searches.

Ecological Impacts on Chesapeake Native Species

Etheostoma caeruleum (Rainbow Darter) has rapidly spread through the Potomac watershed, but no impacts have been reported. Overlap in food resources with native species, particularly the Stripeback Darter (Percina notogramma, endangered in MD) is possible, but has not been studied (Cessna et al. 2014).

Ecological Impacts on Other Chesapeake Non-Native Species

Etheostoma caeruleum (Rainbow Darter) has rapidly spread through the Potomac watershed, but no impacts have been reported. It is a potential competitor with the Greenside Darter (E. blennioides), also introduced to the Potomac.

References

Jenkins, Robert E.; Burkhead, Noel M. (1993) Freshwater fishes of Virginia., , Bethesda, MD. Pp.

Musick, J. A.; Wiley, Martin L. (1972) Fishes of Chesapeake Bay and the adjacent coastal plain, Special Scientific Report, Virginia Institute of Marine Science 65: 175-212

Page, Lawrence M.; Burr, Brooks M. (1991) Freshwater Fishes., , Boston. Pp.

Renfro, William C. (1959) Survival and migration of fresh-water fishes in saltwater, Texas Journal of Science 11: 172-180

Stauffer, Jay R.; Boltz, Jeffrey M.; White, Laura R. (1995) The fishes of West Virginia, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 146: 1-389

2003-2024 Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database. Gainesville, FL. http://nas.er.usgs.gov