The Congaree National Park, located near Columbia, South Carolina, is the largest remaining bottomland forest in Southeastern North America and has the largest trees east of the Mississippi. It’s mostly a swamp and hosts an abundance of aquatic species of wildlife. I follow Friends of the Congaree on my Facebook page, and recently they posted photos of a fish survey they took. They put the fish in aquariums on display. They found over 6 species.
Location of Congaree National Park.
This tank held freshwater shrimp, warmouth sunfish, dollar sunfish, pirate perch, piedmont darter, and mosquitofish. I once caught a freshwater shrimp with a net when I was trying to capture crayfish.
Bluegill, striped sunfish, madtom, and crayfish. The aquarium pictured above this holds a spotted sunfish.
The pirate perch (Aphredodurus sayanus) prefers still, clear, warm water. They get their name because they will eat all the smaller fish in a tank. In the wild they mostly eat insect larva, glass shrimp, worms, and smaller fish. This species has an unusual anatomical feature–its anus is next to its throat. They like to hide from predators under riverbanks formed by tree roots. They grow up to 5.5 inches long.
The warmouth (Lepomis gulasus) is a species of sunfish in the Centrarchidae family. They are a popular game fish that grows between 6-15 inches long. They are good for pan-frying and taste better than largemouth bass. They eat insects, crayfish, and minnows. Every spring they make nests in gravel, and the males defend the nests from cannibalistic females. They can hybridize with green sunfish, bluegills, black crappies, and even largemouth bass.
The dollar sunfish (l. marginatus) is a small species of sunfish that grows to just 4-5 inches long. They feed upon detritus, algae, and insects. Like other species of sunfish, the males defend the nests.
Madtoms (Nocturus sp.) are small catfish that grow to 3-5 inches long. There are 29 species. They have venomous spines. Their diet includes crayfish and fish.
Mosquito fish (Gambusia sp.) are small fish growing to about 2 inches long. They are a beneficial species because they eat mosquito larva, and they’ve been introduced into many areas outside of their natural range in order to control mosquito populations. There are over 40 species.
The redfin pickerel (Esox americanus) is a predatory ambush species that prefers clear shallow water. It’s an active predator that hides in the weeds and rapidly bursts from cover to catch other fish. They grow to between 7-15 inches long.
Redfin pickerel.
Another redfin pickerel. The red fins are more pronounced on some individuals than others.
The fish survey in the Congaree National Park also collected bluegills, spotted sunfish, piedmont darters, and golden shiners. The latter species is not native to the park but was introduced by fishermen as bait.
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