GULF LOGPERCH
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Percina suttkusi
CHARACTERISTICS: The gulf logperch has a conical snout that projects well beyond the upper jaw, a wide frenum, tigerlike vertical banding along the sides, and a single spot at the base of the caudal fin. The back has 16 to 22 full- and half-length thin bands continuing down the sides. The body is yellowish brown to yellow-green along the back and sides, changing to light green to white along the venter. The soft dorsal and caudal fins are banded with black. A single thin reddish orange submarginal band in the spiny dorsal fin distinguishes this species and the Mobile logperch from the similar Percina caprodes found in the Tennessee River drainage. In the Mobile logperch, the body bars are generally wider than in the gulf logperch, with the longest ones expanded into the characteristic blotch, and the submarginal red band in the spiny dorsal fin is generally wider than in the gulf logperch.
ADULT SIZE: 2.8 to 4.8 in (70 to 123 mm)
DISTRIBUTION: The gulf logperch occurs in Gulf coastal drainages from Lake Pontchartrain east to the Mobile basin. All of our collection records in the Mobile basin are from below the Fall Line. Populations of the gulf logperch and Mobile logperch occur syntopically at certain locations in the Alabama, Black Warrior, and upper and lower Tombigbee river systems.
HABITAT AND BIOLOGY: The gulf logperch inhabits a variety of aquatic environments, from small tributaries to large rivers and impoundments and is more often found in main channel habitats. Individuals commonly occur over gravel or sand in moderate current, or in lakes over sand and mud substrates. Little is known of the biology of this species, but it is thought to be similar to the Mobile logperch. Spawning is likely from mid-January through late February, similar to other species of logperch in Alabama. Gulf logperch feed on aquatic insect larvae.
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: Thompson described the gulf logperch in 1997.
ETYMOLOGY:
Percina is a diminutive of Perca, meaning perch.
Suttkusi means in honor of Royal D. Suttkus, noted ichthyologist and collector of southeastern fishes.
The copyrighted information above is from Fishes of Alabama and the Mobile Basin.
