''Fundulus nottii'', the bayou topminnow or southern starhead topminnow, is a fish of the family Fundulidae found in the southeastern United States.

Description

It is a small topminnow with a sub-ocular teardrop, a terminal to superior mouth, and a rounded

caudal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...

. The top of the head is flat, with the large scale (located just anterior to a line between the eyes) overlapped by the pair of scales just behind it. The lateral line is absent, and there are 11 preoperculomandibular pores. The sensory pores are fused. There are 7-8 dorsal rays, 9-10 anal rays, 11-12 pectoral rays, and 6 pelvic rays. During the breeding season males develop prickly contact organs on the anal fin. The Largest reported specimen was 65mm (2.6 in) long. They are sexually dimorphic. Both sexes have a back that is olive green with a thin dorsal stripe, sides that are white or silver with an iridescent blue or silvery overlay, and a dark, iridescent blue-green suborbital teardrop. Males have vertical black bars and irregular horizontal rows of red-brown spots. Females have horizontal flank stripes. Fins have a reddish-brown color.

Diet

Although not much is known about its biology, the bayou topminnow is presumed to feed near the surface, where it consumes drifting organic matter, insects, and other animals associated with the water surface.

Habitat

Bayou topminnows occur in and around shoreline vegetation of clear lakes and ponds, backwaters, and overflow pools of large rivers.

Reproduction and life cycle

As with other topminnows, this species presumably has a spawning season that peaks in May or June, more protracted seasons may occur in some areas. Larvae of this species has not yet been described.

Distribution

The bayou topminnow is found from the

Brazos River The Brazos River ( , ), called the ''Río de los Brazos de Dios'' (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 14th-longest river in the United States at from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater ...

drainages in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

east through the

Gulf Coastal Plain The Gulf Coastal Plain extends around the Gulf of Mexico in the Southern United States and eastern Mexico. This coastal plain reaches from the Florida Panhandle, southwest Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, the southern two-thirds of Alabama, over m ...

and the Mobile Basin.

Species description

This species was described by as ''Zygonectes notti'' in 1854 by

Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...

with the type locality given as

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honors the

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

and

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

Josiah C. Nott (1804–1873) who sent Aggasiz the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

from Mobile.

References

*Page, L.M., H. Espinosa-Perez, L.T. Findley, C.R. Gilbert, R.N. Lea, N.E. Mandrak, R.L. Mayden, and J.S. Nelson. 2013. Common and scientific names of the fishes from the United States, Canada, and Mexico, 7th edition. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 34, Bethesda, Maryland *Page, Ross, S. T. 2001. The Inland Fishes of Mississippi. University Press of Mississippi, Jackson. 624 p. {{Taxonbar, from=Q5853327 notti Endemic fish of the United States Freshwater fish of the United States Fish of the Eastern United States Fauna of the Southeastern United States Fish described in 1854