River Darter
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Name and Code Family Percidae - perches and darters Species Percina shumardi Taxonomic Authority (Girard 1859) Common Name(s) River Darter French Name dard de rivière Species Code 345 Family TSN 168356 Parent TSN 168471 Species TSN 168497 Conservation Status Global Rank (GRank) G5 (2015-08-17) National Rank (NRank) N5 (2017-12-22) Provincial Rank (SRank) S11, S42,3 (2018-04-13) COSEWIC Status Endangered1, Not at Risk2,3 (Apr 2016) SARO Status Endangered1, Not at Risk2,3 (2016) AFS Status none Status Notes (1) Great Lakes-Upper St. Lawrence populations; (2) Saskatchewan-Nelson River populations; (3) Southern Hudson Bay-James Bay populations Ecological Value Ontario Origin native General Abundance uncommon Tolerance intermediate Economic Importance baitfish (incidental) Length-Weight Regression Coefficents Intercept (a) -5.0587 Slope (b) 3.0411 Length Basis TL				Habitat and Feeding General Habitat(s) lacustrine; riverine Environment benthic Trophic Class invertivore Thermal Regime warmwater Habitat Preference cobble- or boulder-strewn gravel-bottomed riffles with fair to moderate current in small to large rivers and sandy channels in lakes Reproduction Reproductive Guild Nonguarders: Brood hiders: Lithophils Spawning Habitat(s) riverine Spawning Season spring Spawning Month(s) April-June Spawning Temperature (°C) 9-12 Fecundity 375-1,096 Nursery Habitat(s) riverine Size and Age Adult Length (cm) 4.6-7.5 TL Adult Weight (kg) 0.001-0.004 Age at Maturity (yrs) 1-2 Maximum Length (cm) 9.5 TL Maximum Weight (kg) 0.0072 Lifespan (yrs) 3-4 Ontario Records Record Length (cm) 7.6 TL Record Weight (kg) 0.0036				Ontario Range Map Ontario Distribution northwestern Ontario; small area of southwestern Ontario including Lake St. Clair, Sydenham River, Thames River; first reported from Ontario in 1931 Photographs Notes more tolerant of turbidity than other darters
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Sci. 2338: v + 42 p. Lane, P.A., C.B. Portt, and C.K. Minns. 1996. Adult habitat characteristics of Great Lakes fishes. Can. MS Rpt. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2358: v + 43 p. Lane, P.A., C.B. Portt, and C.K. Minns. 1996. Spawning habitat characteristics of Great Lakes fishes. Can. MS Rpt. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2368: v + 48 p. Lee, D.S., C.R. Gilbert, C.H. Hocutt, R.E. Jenkins, D.E. McAllister, and J.R. Stauffer, Jr. 1980. Atlas of North American freshwater fishes. North Carolina State Museum of Natural History Publication 1980-12. Raleigh, NC. x + 867 pp. Mandrak, N.E. and E.J. Crossman. 1992. A checklist of Ontario freshwater fishes annotated with distribution maps. Royal Ontario Museum Life Sciences Miscellaneous Publication. Toronto, ON. v + 176 pp. NatureServe. 2023. NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer [web application]. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available https://explorer.natureserve.org/ (Accessed: February 2, 2023). Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR). 2013. Extinct, not at risk and data deficient species in Ontario list, 18 April 2013. Page, L.M. 1983. Handbook of Darters. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Neptune City, NJ. 271 pp. Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr. 2011. Peterson field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico, second edition. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Boston, MA. xix + 663 pp. Page, L.M., K.E. Bemis, T.E. Dowling, H.S. Espinosa-Pérez, L.T. Findley, C.R. Gilbert, K.E. Hartel, R.N. Lea, N.E. Mandrak, M.A. Neighbors, J.J. Schmitter-Soto, and H.J. Walker Jr. 2023. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. 8th Edition. American Fisheries Society, Spec. Publ. 37. Bethesda, MD. 439 pp. Phillips, G.L., W.D. Schmid, and J.C. Underhill. 1982. Fishes of the Minnesota region. University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis, MN. x + 248 pp. Portt, C.B., G. Coker, and C.K. Minns. 1999. Riverine Habitat Characteristics of Fishes of the Great Lakes Watershed. Can. MS Rpt. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2481: vi + 62 p. Pratt, T.C., W.M. Gardner, D.A. Watkinson and L.D. Bouvier. 2016. Ecology of the River Darter in Canadian waters: Distribution, relative abundance, life-history traits, diet, and habitat characteristics. Diversity 8(4):22. Ross, S.T. 2001. The inland fishes of Mississippi. University Press of Mississippi. xx + 624 pp. Scott, W.B. 1967. Freshwater fishes of eastern Canada, second edition. University of Toronto Press. Toronto, ON. xii + 137 pp. Scott, W.B. and E.J. Crossman. 1973. Freshwater fishes of Canada. Bull. Fish. Res. Board Can. 184. [1998 Reprint] Galt House Publications Ltd. Oakville, ON. xx + 966 pp. Scharpf, C. 2008. Annotated checklist of North American freshwater fishes, including subspecies and undescribed forms. Part IV: Cottidae through Percidae. American Currents 34(4):1-43. Simon, T.P. 1999. Assessment of Balon's reproductive guilds with application to midwestern North American freshwater fishes. Pages 97-122 in T.P. Simon [Ed]. Assessing the sustainability and biological integrity of water resources using fish communities. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. xx + 671 pp. Simon, T.P. and R. Wallus. 2006. Reproductive biology and early life history of fishes in the Ohio River drainage. Volume 4. Percidae - perch, pikeperch and darters. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. xxviii + 619 pp. Smith, P.W. 2002. The fishes of Illinois. University of Illinois Press. Urbana and Chicago, IL. xxix + 314 pp. Stauffer, Jr., J.R., J.M. Boltz and L.R. White. 1995. The fishes of West Virginia. Reprinted from The Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 146:1-389. Pennsylvania State University. 389 pp. Stauffer, Jr., J.R., R.W. Criswell and D.P. Fischer. 2016. The fishes of Pennsylvania. Cichlid Press. El Paso, TX. 556 pp. Stewart, K.W. and D.A. Watkinson. 2004. The freshwater fishes of Manitoba. University of Manitoba Press. Winnipeg, MB. xvii + 276 pp. Trautman, M.B. 1981. The fishes of Ohio with illustrated keys, revised edition. Ohio State University Press. Columbus, OH. xxv + 782 pp. Winterton, G. [Ed]. 2005. The comprehensive bait guide for eastern Canada, the Great Lakes region and northeastern United States: identifying, harvesting and culture of baitfishes, crayfishes, frogs and leeches. University of Toronto Press. Toronto, ON. iv + 437 pp.