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“The darter of darters is the fantail 
(Etheostoma flabellare). Hardiest, wiri- 
est, wariest of them all, it is one which is 
most expert in catching other creatures, 
and the one which most surely evades 
your clutch. You can catch a weasel 
asleep when you put your finger on one 
of these. It is a slim, narrow, black, 
pirate-rigged little fish, with a long, 
pointed head, and a projecting, prow-like 
lower jaw. It carries no flag, but is col- 
ored like the rocks among which it lives. 
It is dark brown in hue, with a dusky 
spot on each scale, so that the whole body 
seems covered with lengthwise stripes, 
and these are further relieved by cross 
bands of the same color. Its fins, espe- 
cially the broad, fan-shaped caudal, are 
likewise much checkered with spots of 
black. The spines of the dorsal are very 
low, and each of these in the male ends 
in a little fleshy pad of rusty-red color, 
the fish’s only attempt at ornamentation. 
The fan-tailed darter chooses the coldest 
and swiftest waters, and in these, as 
befits his form, he leads an active preda- 
tory life. He is the terror of water 
snails and caddis worms, and the larve 
of mosquitoes. In the aquarium this 
darter is one of the most interesting of 
fishes, for, though plainly colored, it is 
very handsome, and in its movements is 
the most graceful of all the darters. Its 
mouth opens wider than that of any of 
the others, and it is fuller of bristling 
teeth. Its large yellow-rimmed black 
eyes are ever on the watch. The least 
of a “fish” and the most of a darter, the 
fan-tailed is worthily left as a type of 
the genus Etheostoma, in which it was 
first place by its discoverer, Rafinesque.” 
| OI) Fie al Si ss OE Fe 
THE FAN-TAILED DARTER | 
FRANK BAMFORD HANNA 
TL Fs Ps Ps es Ft a Oly 
Thus have Jordan and Copeland writ- 
ten of the fish that deserves to be more 
popular among aquarists, and particularly 
those who find pleasure in the study of 
our native species. The “darter of dart- 
ers” has quite a wide distributions, and 
ranges from Quebec and New England 
down the Atlantic coast to South Caro- 
lina, westward by way of the Great 
Etheostoma flabellare 
Lakes and the Ohio basin to Missouri and 
northeastern Iowa, and southward to 
northern Alabama. It is practically with- 
in reach of most aquarists residing in the 
eastern half of the United States, the 
Gulf States excepted. Look for it in 
cool, rocky brooks; occasionally found in 
rivers and lakes, it shows a preference 
for small streams. 
You will catch it most readily in a 
small minnow seine, though occasionally, 
if you are lucky, in a dip net. The col- 
lecting can must not be overcrowded, and 
should be kept as cool as possible. For 
a home, in your home, it asks a fair- 
sized aquarium, the water but a few 
inches deep; some aquarists say not more 
than four inches, but six will not be detri- 
mental. Artificial aeration will be desir- 
able, but if not possible, then half of the 
tank should be rather thickly planted with 
Sagittaria subulata, the small species, 
leaving the rest of the bottom space 
clear. The bed of the aquarium should 
be of clean, sharp sand, with a few rocks 
in the open area. If the tank is cool at 
