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Teleostei (teleosts) > Perciformes/Percoidei (Perchs) > Percidae (Perches) > Etheostomatinae
Etymology: Etheostoma: Greek, etheo = to strain + Greek, stoma = mouth; Rafinesque said "various mouths", but Jordan and Evermann suggest the name might have been intended as "Heterostoma (Ref. 45335); akatulo: Name akatulo is derived from the Cherokee noun for mask, and as the common name (Bluemask Darter) implies, this refers to the uninterrupted, intense blue pigment covering the lower face of breeding males..

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; benthopelagic. Subtropical

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North America: USA.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 4.8 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 80494); 4.5 cm SL (female)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 10 - 13; Dorsal soft rays (total): 10 - 12. This species is distinguished from all other species under the subgenus Doration by the combination of the following set of characters: completely scaled cheeks (or nearly so); lateral line usually complete; breeding males possess an intense blue mask of pigment completely covering lower face and operculum, snout, lips, underside of head, and branchiostegal membranes; breeding males with soft dorsal and anal fins dark gray to black with no orange spots on rays or blue pigment in membranes (Ref. 80494).

This species is observed in slow to moderate current over sand and fine gravel at depths of 10-50 cm, mainly just downstream of riffles, in runs, or along margins of pools. Breeding males collected in April at the type locality were most abundant in gravelly runs, while breeding females were more common in slower water over sandier substrates adjacent to runs. It is reported to be spawning in May and June in gravelly runs, burying their eggs in small sand patches among the gravel, a similar behavior of E. stigmaeumin aquaria. After the spawning period, it moves to sandy substrates in low-velocity areas of intermediate depth (Ref. 80494).

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Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Layman, S.R. and R.L. Mayden, 2009. A new species of the darter subgenus Doration (Percidae: Etheostoma) from the Caney Fork River System, Tennessee. Copeia 2009(1):157-170. (Ref. 80494)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

Endangered (EN) (B1ab(iii,v)+2ab(iii,v)); Date assessed: 02 December 2011

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest

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Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00676 (0.00301 - 0.01516), b=3.12 (2.94 - 3.30), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.2 ±0.5 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives

Resilience (Ref. 120179): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).

Etheostoma akatulo Layman & Mayden, 2009