Etheostoma flabellare vs. E. kennicotti

Robert pointed out to me this afternoon that at least one of the "Etheostoma flabellare" from our May collection at Estill Fork is actually E. kennicotti. Small specimens are more difficult to separate between species, but this one has an unmistakable trait: a dark submarginal band on the first dorsal fin. I suspect we'll find a few more out of what we've collected. Flabellare is considered to be more widespread and common than kennicotti, and that's been my experience to date. The interesting part of this is that this kennicotti had a total of 19 gill parasites, so hopefully we can figure out if these parasites are the same as what we're finding on flabellare (which as a group has lots of them, certainly compared to the black snubnoses).

We're going to Estill Fork this weekend just to collect darters. With little rain since the last trip I'd guess that there's no substantial difference with the current and depth, which is to say little of either.