Scardinius erythrophthalmus
rudd
Type Locality
Northern Europe (Linnaeus
1758)
Etymology/Derivation of Scientific Name
Scardinius
erythrophthalmus: scar - Greek, meaning “a kind of fish”; din
- Greek, meaning “terrible, whirling”; erythro – Greek, meaning
“red”; phthalm, Greek, meaning “the eye”.
Synonymy
Rutilus rutilus (Linnaeus
1758)
Characters
Maximum size: 400 mm
SL (Hensley and Courtenay 1980).
Coloration: Eyes and
fins usually red (Hubbs et al. 1991). Bright red anal, pelvic, and pectoral
fins bright red on the extremities (Muus and Dahlstrom 1971). Red-brown
caudal and dorsal fins. Brown-green above, brassy yellow side; gold eye with
red spot at top (Page and Burr 1991).
Teeth count: 3, 5-5,
3 or 2,5-5,2; without prominent parallel grooves (Hubbs et al. 1991).
Counts: Fewer than 10
soft rays on dorsal fin (Hubbs et al. 1991). 36-45 lateral scales; 10-11
anal rays (Page and Burr 1991).
Body shape: Deep,
compressed body (Page and Burr 1991).
Mouth position:
Terminal, oblique mouth (Page and Burr 1991).
External morphology:
Abdomen behind pelvic fins scaled; gill rakers short and stout, nine to 10
on first gill arch. Lateral line greatly decurved. Premaxillaries
protractile; upper lip separated from skin of snout by a deep groove
continuous across the midline. Cartilaginous ridge of lower jaw hardly
evident and not separated by a definite groove from the lower lip. Distance
from origin of anal fin to end of caudal peduncle contained two and one-half
or fewer times in distance from tip of snout to origin of anal fin (Hubbs et
al.1991). Small head (Page and Burr 1991).
Distribution (Native and Introduced)
U.S. distribution:
Native to Europe, this species originally was introduced into New York and
recently has spread throughout the southeast as a bait minnow (Hubbs et al.
1991). By 1991, species widely distributed in southeastern Kansas, and
specimens were reported from natural waters in Illinois, Oklahoma, and Texas
(Pflieger 1997).
Texas distribution:
This introduced freshwater species has been found in Texas in widely
scattered localities throughout the state (Hubbs et al. 1991). Specimens
have been collected in Lake Teoma (Red River drainage), Grayson Co.; Victor
Braunig Reservoir (Guadalupe River drainage), Bexar Co.; Calaveras Reservoir
(Guadalupe River drainage), Bexar Co.; Lake Whitney (Brazos River drainage),
Hill Co. (Howells et al. 1991); and Canyon Lake, Comal Co., in the Potters
Creek Park area of the reservoir (Whiteside and Berkhouse 1992).
Abundance/Conservation status (Federal, State, NGO)
Habitat Associations
Macrohabitat: Lakes
and sluggish pools of medium to large rivers (Page and Burr 1991). Pools and
backwaters of streams and shallow margins of lakes and ponds (Pflieger
1997).
Mesohabitat: Often
associated with dense growths of submerged aquatic vegetation (Pflieger
1997).
Biology
Spawning season: In
native range, it spawns from April to August (Pflieger 1997).
Spawning location:
Adhesive eggs are laid in submerged vegetation in shallow water near shore
(Hensley and Courtenay 1980).
Reproductive strategy:
Males defend territories during the breeding period, including the plants on
which the adhesive eggs are deposited. Males continue to discharge sperm for
some time after the eggs have been deposited (Breder and Rosen 1966).
Fecundity: Prolific;
single female may produce over 200,000 eggs (Pflieger 1997).
Age at maturation:
Reaches sexual maturity at 2 or 3 years (Pflieger 1997).
Migration:
Longevity: Maximum
lifespan may be 17 years (Pflieger 1997).
Food habits: In native
range adults feed mainly on surface or aerial insects; young feed mainly on
diatoms, algae, and copepods (Hensley and Courtenay 1980). Omnivorous,
feeding on zooplankton, aquatic insects, filamentous algae, higher aquatic
plants, and occasionally on fish eggs or small fish (Pflieger 1997).
Growth: Averages 20-30
cm and 200-400 g in approximately 10 years (Muus and Dahlstrom 1971).
Phylogeny and morphologically similar fishes
Golden shiner, Notemigonus
crysoleucas, lacks red on fins (young may have light red-orange median
fins); has scaleless keel; has usually 7-9 dorsal rays, 11-14 anal rays,
17-19 rakers on first gill arch; pharyngeal teeth 0,5-5,0 (Page and Burr
1991), and no red spot on iris of eye (Crossman et al. 1992). The Rudd is
known to hybridize with the Golden Shiner (Burkhead and Williams 1991);
hybrid is apparently first known nonsalmonid intergeneric cross of a North
American native and an exotic (Taylor et al. 1994).
Host Records
Eimeria pigra n. sp.,
a coccidian (Leger and Bory 1932). Grodactylus carassii, G.
cyprini, G. gasterostei, G. laevis, G. leucisci,
G. magnificus, G. prostate, G. vimbi (Harris et al. 2004).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Species established in Maine
and New York after being introduced in the early 1900’s as an ornamental
fish (Pflieger 1997). Beginning in the 1980s, the rudd underwent an
explosive anthropogenic dispersal; recent dispersal a result of successful
marketing of the rudd as a new, hardy, colorful bait minnow, by the Arkansas
fish farming industry; characteristics of the species have made it a popular
bait with anglers fishing for striped bass Morone saxatilis (Burkhead
and Williams 1991). Potential for establishment and dispersal in
Southeastern U.S. presently uncertain (Etnier and Starnes 1993). Crossman et
al. (1992) suggests the species should not be intentionally or accidentally
transferred to other waters, in order to avoid damage to native cyprinid
populations by competition and hybridization. Burkhead and Williams (1991)
suggest hybridization of the rudd and golden shiner (Notemigonus
crysoleucas) may impose a threat to the genetic integrity of the golden
shiner.
References
Breder, C. M., Jr.
and Rosen, D. E. 1966. Modes of Reproduction in Fishes. T. F. H.
Publications, Jersey City, 941 pp.
Burkhead, N.M.,
and J. D. Williams. 1991. An intergeneric hybrid of a native minnow, the
golden shiner, and an exotic minnow, the rudd. Transactions of the American
Fisheries Society 120:781-795.
Cross, F. B. and
J. T. Collins. 1995. Fishes in Kansas. University Press of Kansas. Lawrence,
Kansas, 315 pp.
Crossman, E. J.,
E. Holm, R. Cholmondeley, and K. Tuininga. 1992. First record for Canada of
the rudd, Scardinius erythrophthalmus, and notes on the introduced
round goby, Neogobius melaostomus. Canadian Field-Naturalist
106(2):206-209.
Etnier, D. A., and
W. C. Starnes. 1993. The Fishes of Tennessee. The University of Tennessee
Press, Knoxville. 681 pp.
Harris, P. D., A.
P. Shinn, J. Cable, and T. A. Bakke. 2004. Nominal species of the genus
Gyrodactylus von Nordmann 1932 (Monogenea: Gyrodactylidae), with a list
of prinicipal host species. Systematic Parasitology 59:1-27.
Hensley, D. A. and
W. R. Courtenay, Jr. 1980. Scardinius erythrophthalmus (Linnaeus),
Rudd. pp. 360 in D. S. Lee, et al. Atlas of North American Freshwater
Fishes. N. C. State Mus. Nat. Hist., Raliegh, i-r+854 pp.
Howells, R. G., R.
W. Luebke, B. T. Hysmith, and J. H. Moczygemba. 1991. Field collections of
Rudd, Scarinius erythrophthalmus (Cyprinidae), in Texas. Southwestern
Naturalist 36:244-245
Hubbs, C., R. J.
Edwards and G. P. Garrett. 1991. An annotated checklist of freshwater fishes
of Texas, with key to identification of species. Texas Journal of Science,
Supplement 43(4):1-56.
Leger, M., and T.
Bory. 1932. Eimeria pigra n. sp., nouvelle coccidae juxtaepitheliale,
parasite du gardon rouge. Comptes Rendus Hebdornaires des Seances de
l’Academie des Sciences 194:1710-1712.
Linnaeus. 1758.
Systema naturae, Laurentii Salvii, Holmiae, 10 ed. 1:1-824
Muus, P. J., and
P. Dahlstrom. 1971. Collins guide to the freshwater fishes of Britain and
Europe. Collins, London. 222 pp.
Page, L. M., and
B. M. Burr. 1991. A Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of North America,
north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 432 pp.
Pflieger, W. L.
1997. The Fishes of Missouri. Missouri Department of Conservation,
Jefferson City, 372 pp.
Taylor, J. N., W.
R. Courtenay, Jr., and J. A. McCann. 1984. Known impacts of exotic fishes in
the continental United States. pp. 322-373 in W. R. Courtenay, Jr., and J.
R. Stauffer, Jr., eds. Distribution, biology, and management of exotic
fishes. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland.
Whiteside, B. G.
and Casey Berkhouse. 1992. Some new collection locations for six fish
species. The Texas Journal of Science 44(4):494
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