Dynamic Darters

Blog Category
Discover Nature Notes
Published Display Date
Aug 31, 2015
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While the tropics are famous for their brightly colored fish, the Midwest is home to some flashy fish as well.

There are around 30 species of darters in the central United States. Darters are small members of the Perch family. They normally grow three or four inches and can be blue, scarlet, orange and green. Mature males will brighten with eye-popping color during breeding season to attract females. They are among the most beautifully colored of all freshwater fishes.

Most darters live in stream bottoms as a group, shimmering among the rocks of clear, swift-moving waters. Some will also inhabit headwater springs, swampy bayous and lowland lakes.

Darters move about in short, quick dashes and live up to their names “darter” and “perch” as they dart about from one perch site to another.

All About Those Darters

  • Although most darters prefer swift, clear streams and riffles, the swamp darter does not. Allred Lake is one of the least-disturbed remnants of cypress swamp left in Missouri. The other place this species occurs in our state is a slough and abandoned stream channel in Butler County.
  • Darters have been called the “hummingbirds of the fish world” because of the brilliant and varied colors of the breeding males. The next time you admire the colorful fish at a pet store, remember that our own native species possess the same kind of beauty — and that some of them are endangered.
  • The Niangua darter is the only darter in our state that has 2 small black spots at the base of the tail fin.
  • Although the logperch is the largest darter in Missouri, it does not achieve the size of its other perch-family relatives–the walleye, sauger and yellow perch–and is thus not a game fish.

Discover more about darters in MDC’s Field Guide.

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