Arkansas Darter

Diet and feeding

The FishTraits compilation records these diet categories for this species: invertebrates or larval fish. These are broad categories, not a claim that every individual consumes every example in a category.

Reported feeding positions include bottom feeding. The compilation combines published observations; diets can vary with age, locality, and available food.

Habitat preferences

Reported habitat associations include creeks, springs or subterranean waters.

The source records associations with muck, clay or silt, sand, gravel, vegetation. An association indicates reported use, rather than an exclusive requirement.

Reproduction and parental care

The compilation reports a representative maturity age of 1 years. Its maturity field summarizes mean, median, or modal estimates, usually for females; male estimates can be used when female data are unavailable. It is not a fixed age at which every fish first breeds.

Batch or serial spawning has been reported somewhere in the species’ range. This does not establish the same spawning pattern for every population.

Recorded spawning months are Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul for the source’s reporting region (MO). This is a regional calendar, not a range-wide schedule.

The reproductive-guild classification includes hiding a brood without subsequent guarding.

Size and recorded longevity

FishTraits reports a maximum total length of 5.1 centimetres. Some entries use an estimated asymptotic length; this value should not be treated as a certified record catch.

Recorded longevity in the compilation is 3 years. Wild observations were preferred, but captive records were accepted where wild records were unavailable, and unspecified records were assumed wild. The value is not a guaranteed wild lifespan or an aquarium life expectancy.

Native range

Arkansas River drainage in southwestern Missouri, northwestern Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado (Page and Burr 1991).

Introduction history

According to Miller (1984), the Lytle Pond introduction was carried out by the Colorado Division of Wildlife as part of an experimental transplant, apparently for the preservation of an imperiled or uncommon species. The introduction involved 34 specimens taken from a spring slough along Fountain (about 5 kilometers south of town of Fountain), El Paso County, Colorado. This species was stocked as a conservation measure.