Crystallaria asprella (Jordan, 1878)
Crystal darter
Crystallaria asprella
photo by The Native Fish Conservancy

Family:  Percidae (Perches), subfamily: Percinae
Max. size:  16 cm TL (male/unsexed); max. reported age: 3 years
Environment:  demersal; freshwater
Distribution:  North America: Mississippi River basin from Ohio to Minnesota and south to southern Mississippi, northern Louisiana and southeastern Oklahoma in the USA; and on Gulf Slope in Escambia, Mobile Bay and Pearl River drainages. Now extirpated from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois.
Diagnosis:  Dorsal spines (total): 10-17; Dorsal soft rays (total): 11-15; Anal soft rays: 12-16. Gape width 3.7-6.1% SL; preorbital blotch adjoined to or narrowly separate from anterior orbital rim; and pelvic fins not falcate; cheek scale rows 4-14, modally 11; opercle scale rows 2-13, modally 4; mid-lateral blotches 8-14, modally 10; anal-fin rays 12-16, modally 14; dorsal-fin spines 10-17, modally 14; scales below the lateral line 7-14, modally 9 (Ref. 74948).
Biology:  Occurs in clean sand and gravel runs of small to medium rivers (Ref. 5723, 10294).
IUCN Red List Status: Vulnerable (VU); Date assessed: 14 November 2011 (A2c) Ref. (130435)
Threat to humans:  harmless
Country info:   
 


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