Article text: Wikipedia contributors, Sawcheek darter (source revision). Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
Sawcheek Darter
Etheostoma serrifer
Percidae · freshwater water fish
2 minute read · Species guide

About Sawcheek Darter
The Sawcheek darter (Etheostoma serrifer) is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish, a darter from the subfamily Etheostomatinae, part of the family Percidae, which also contains the perches, ruffes and pikeperches. It is endemic to the eastern United States, where it occurs in the Atlantic coastal plain from Great Dismal Swamp of southern Virginia to Altamaha River drainage of Georgia. It occurs near vegetation in swamps, lakes, sluggish headwaters, creeks and small rivers. This species can reach a length of 6.8 cm (2.7 in).
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 streams and small rivers, creeks.
The source records associations with muck, clay or silt, sand, organic debris. 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.
Recorded spawning months are Mar, Apr for the source’s reporting region (VA). This is a regional calendar, not a range-wide schedule.
The reproductive-guild classification includes spawning on open substrates without guarding the brood.
Size and recorded longevity
FishTraits reports a maximum total length of 6.8 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 2 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.
Range
Where it lives
A blank area on the dot layer usually means nobody sampled there, not that the fish is absent. Turn on “every survey site” to see where the survey looked.
Share of records by state
The USGS stream survey caught it at 59 of its sites, in 2 states. That survey and the GBIF records are two different counts of two different things, so the site keeps them apart.
Habitat
Water and movement
- Water
- WoRMS records this species in fresh water.
- Migration
- Undetermined
Classification
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Superclass
- Actinopterygii
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Percidae
- Genus
- Etheostoma
- Species
- Etheostoma serrifer
- ITIS TSN
- 168362
- WoRMS AphiaID
- 1525386
- GBIF key
- 2382386
Common questions about Sawcheek Darter
What is the scientific name of Sawcheek Darter?
Does Sawcheek Darter live in fresh water or salt water?
Where has Sawcheek Darter been recorded in the United States?
Closest relatives
Other Etheostoma species
Same family