The blackstripe topminnow, Fundulus notatus, is small freshwater fish in the family Fundulidae

Fundulidae

Fundulidae is the family of topminnows and North American killifishes. The 46 species are native to North America as far south as Yucatan, and to the islands of Bermuda and Cuba, occurring in both freshwater and marine environments....

, found in central North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

.

Distribution

The blackstripe topminnow is found in Canada along a 60 kilometre stretch of Ontario’s Sydenham River

Sydenham River

The Sydenham River is a river in Kent County, Lambton County and Middlesex County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, flowing southwest from its source west of London, Ontario and emptying into Lake Saint Clair. The length of the river is and it drains a watershed of approximately 2,700 square...

. In the United States, it occupies other parts of the southern drainage of lakes Erie

Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...

 and Michigan

Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...

 and also the Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

 drainage basin between Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 and the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

. The entire Canadian population of this small freshwater fish lives along a roughly 60 kilometre stretch of the Sydenham River in southwestern Ontario. Discovered only in 1972, the blackstripe topminnow is a fairly hardy fish although its greatest threats come from changes to its habitat due to human activity.

Description

The blackstripe topminnow gets its name from the horizontal black stripe that runs the length of its body along its sides. The fish has a small mouth that turns slightly upward, and has a flat-topped head with a multi-coloured spot on it. The average length of this fish is between 5 and 7 cm. The males and females look distinct from one another. Males have dark vertical bars above and below their stripes, yellow-hued fins, and their dorsal and anal fins are longer and more pointed. Females have no bars, white fins and shorter, more rounded dorsal and anal fins.

Life history

Blackstripe topminnows live for two to three years. They are usually found in slow-moving water where vegetation along the river bank provides a good amount of edge cover. They tend to stay near the surface in summer and feed on insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s. They also eat insect larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e in the water, as well as tiny molluscs, spiders and crustacean

Crustacean

Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...

s. In the winter, they retreat to deeper water. Spawning

Spawn (biology)

Spawn refers to the eggs and sperm released or deposited, usually into water, by aquatic animals. As a verb, spawn refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, also called spawning...

 occurs between May and August. Females lay 20 to 30 eggs; these are fertilized and tucked away in underwater vegetation one at a time by the males.

Conservation

Although this population in Canada seems to have remained stable in recent years, it faces several environmental risks. These fish depend on vegetation, both in-stream and along the banks, especially as a source for the insects they eat. Livestock can threaten this vegetation by destroying or eating it. As well, when wetlands are drained, the flow of creeks and streams can change, potentially affecting the size and health of blackstripe topminnow populations. Taking water from streams to irrigate farmland could leave this fish especially at risk in times of low water or drought. Oil seepage from equipment and vehicles could harm the blackstripe topminnow because of its habit of feeding at the surface of the water where slicks occur.

First designated as a species of Special Concern by COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) in April 1985, its status was re-examined and confirmed in May 2001. The blackstripe topminnow is now listed in Canada under the federal Species at Risk Act

Species at Risk Act

The Species at Risk Act is a piece of Canadian federal legislation which became law in Canada on December 12, 2002. It is designed to meet one of Canada's key commitments under the International Convention on Biological Diversity. The goal of the Act is to protect endangered or threatened...

(SARA). As well, the federal Fisheries Act prohibits destruction of fish habitat. The blackstripe topminnow is also one of many species covered by the Sydenham River Recovery strategy. The Sydenham River Recovery Strategy, completed in 2003, was the first recovery strategy in Canada to use an ecosystem approach for aquatic species. The blackstripe topminnow is now being protected as part of a larger plan to return the Sydenham River’s ecosystem to health.

External links

• Blackstripe topminnow (Fundulus notatus) illustrations from Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Accessed December 2, 2007.
• Blackstripe topminnow illustration from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Accessed December 2, 2007.
• http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/species/species_blackstripe_topminnow_e.asp