Photos From Swan Creek, Athens, Alabama, April 5, 2006

This is Swan Creek, Athens, AL, looking downstream from the Elkton Road bridge on April 5. It's characterized by lots of limestone bedrock outcrops and limestone gravel. Water that day was pH 8.1, TDS 58 ppm and 20 deg. C.

Above are three black darters, Etheostoma duryi, from Swan Creek. The top two are females, the bottom one is a reasonably well colored male. They were photographed on top of a cooler in the late afternoon sun just after being euthanized in MS-222. Note the blue-green patches on the male's snout and base of the caudal. We also found rainbow and stripetail darters in the creek.

We'll be visiting the creek, along with two others, this coming Monday. It'll be our last collection of black darters at two other creeks, and we'll collect scarlet and striped shiners at Swan Creek.