This is an eastern U.S. fish – I went to undergraduate (NJ) and graduate school (MD) back east and worked back there for another 8 years (with one summer in AK) before I landed back in Seattle for good, so I’ll throw in some interesting eastern species now and then.
The Percidae family includes the second largest number of fish species second behind the minnow family (Cyprinadae). Logperches are a unique subgroup of darters and are easily identified by their tiger-like stripes and distinctive head and snout shape. Males and females are “dimorphic” meaning they exhibit different coloration that is exaggerated during the spawning season.
They are found in clear streams/rivers with gravel bottoms where the female buries her eggs and the male lays beside and deposits his milt. The males can get quite aggressive during spawning and have been observed ramming one another. Percia means “little perch” and bimaculata means “two spots”, referring to the spot either side at the base of the tail.
They have poorly developed swim bladders (that make fish more buoyant) and spend most of their time on the bottom and move around is short spurts – hence the name darter. It’s not clear where the name logperch comes from as they don’t sit around on logs at the bottom of the stream. Au contraire – they are quite active and forage on the bottom of streams and rivers by turning over rocks with their snout and looking for tasty morsels such as aquatic insects, young crayfish, and aquatic roundworms.
They can average 7-10 rock flips a minute. Here is a video of a logperch (different species) foraging by turning over rocks: http://fl.biology.usgs.gov/Southeastern_Aquatic_Fauna/Freshwater_Fishes/Logperch/Logperch.mpg
The Chesapeake logperch has a very limited distribution in the lower Susquehanna River, which flows through southern PA and MD, of about 30 stream and river miles. The Susquehanna is the largest river flowing into Chesapeake Bay. This fish was once thought to be a subspecies of the common logperch (Percina caprodes), which is a widely distributed species in the eastern U.S. and Canada. But genetic work in the 1990s determined that it actually is a separate species with a very limited range. Maryland Fish and Game listed the species as threatened in 2012 as did the Pennsylvania Fish Commission in 2013.
Interestingly, in the southern mid-Atlantic and SE U.S. there is quite a bit more diversity in fish and amphibians than we have here in the PNW because these areas were never glaciated. Thus, there was much, much more time for species to evolve within different drainages. In some areas of the SE U.S. there are different amphibian and fish species (particularly darters) between even small drainages. And with genetic marker analysis you can trace back their connected heritage and the long-term geologic development of the drainages themselves.
When I worked as a fish ecologist on the Susquehanna we spent about 90% of our time on boats collecting a variety of fish data – age/growth studies, food habitats, trapping, electro-fishing, tagging, radio-telemetry, etc. So we spend A LOT of time on the water on boats together. To break up the long days there would be story-telling, songs, and rituals. One lanky fish biologist from rural PA, who will call Scott, had a ritual for the first logperch we caught each spring.
While sorting though the traps or the trawl net he would suddenly get alert, wide-eyed, and smile. Then someone would notice what fish he had in his hand and yell “logperch!” Everyone would turn quickly and watch as Scott would deftly bite off its head!!! I have no idea how this started and why, but it was an annual spring rite. This was in the early ‘80s when the fish was thought to be the common species! Scott is now a VP in an engineering/environmental firm and, especially because of its recent status upgrade, I doubt he continues to greet the first logperch of the spring in such a manner.