Captive Propagation and Early Life History of the Yazoo Darter (Etheostoma raneyi)

Captive propagation of fishes to achieve a variety of management goals is common and is increasingly included in recovery plans for imperiled species. Here, we present a protocol for the captive propagation of Etheostoma raneyi (Yazoo Darter) and summarize early life-history information. From 9 males and 17 females, we collected >1000 larvae, of which >83% survived to the juvenile stage. Water temperature during spawning was 15.6-21 degrees C and larval production peaked at 17.2-20.6 degrees C. Spawning abruptly ceased when daily high water temperatures exceeded 21 degrees C for 3 consecutive days. Newly hatched larvae were able to swim vigorously, were pelagic, and were about 4.4-4.5 mm total length (TL). Compared to other darter species, the Yazoo Darter is among the easiest to propagate, and the protocol presented should be suitable to meet most management goals. The protocol also provides a sound basis for the development of species-specific captive-propagation techniques for >= 17 closely related and imperiled snubnose darte rs.