Roanoke Logperch Update

Next week marks the arrival (finally) of the Roanoke logperch (Percina rex) to our museum! Our aquarium curator, Chris Crippen, will be driving out to Marion, Va to the VDGIF's Aquatic Wildlife Conservation Center to retrieve the new additions to our Mountain Stream Exhibit on Monday October 17th after an extensive state and federal permitting process, due to their highly endangered status.

    

 Rosyside dace and central stonerollers in the stream

 
In preparation for the king of darters, we have completely revamped the Mountain Stream exhibit. All of the sculpin (Cottidae) have been removed, as they are known to prey on darters and other small stream fishes. New exhibit rocks have been collected from the Tye River area - smaller, more natural and colorful - to better suit the natural habitat of the logperch. The logperch will join over twenty native stream species currently in this exhibit including redline darters (pictured below), mountain redbelly dace, rosyside dace (pictured above), blacknose dace, and several other darters species.

 A redline darter in the stream exhibit

In the wild, the logperch primarily feed on small invertebrates (bugs, snails, etc) that they uncover by flipping rocks with their snout, here we will feed them a varied diet of blackworms, mysis shrimp and a commercial gel diet.