Rainbow Darters! Xd

[LyraGuppi]

A few weeks ago, I saw a little colony of beautiful loach-like fish in my local creek. I had no container or camera to identify them, and I didn't want to pick it up with my hands and get stabbed like a cory can. xD
 
So today, I hiked down the horrid hills and crossed the raging rivers (whoa) to find them again, but was sorely disappointed to see that the last spot they were at (under a massive root, in shallower areas) didn't house the loachy things.
 
So after 15 minutes or searching, I found a less colorful version of the loachy things. I caught it in a container, and photographed it. It looked like a camouflaged goby! I released it again, then after another 15 minutes of trying to catch minnows (impossible)  I saw...
 
the one.
 
After a LOT of photography, I ran back home and identified them as rainbow darters! These fish (native in my area!) are beeautiful. I'm hoping to get some pics up for you guys, but a fair warning, they are horribly blurry.
 
NOTE: All wild caught fish were released back into their original area.

Wikipedia has an amazing pic of these guys to get a rough idea of their appearance.
https/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_darter#/media/File:Rainbow_darter.JPG

 

[Munroco]

I just made a post about darters in the cold water section. Coincidence

 

[LyraGuppi]

The female from the top:

Yes, the less colorful ones were females.
 

The female had a bit of coloring on her..bottom fin? What is that fin called?

But her other fins (like killifish fins! Woo!) were translucent.

And the last female pic (sorry xD)

 

[LyraGuppi]

Now for the handsome man:
 

Lookit dem bars!
 

Really dark top fin, it is mating season over here.
 

A blurry pic from the top

More bars...

I love the gill plate color!

 
Last one...phew!
So, yay! I found a native I love!
Sorry about the quality of these pics. The iPod was the only camera I'd dare hike down to the creek, and it was running out of battery, and the fish were threatening to jump out...yeah xD

So, anyone have any experience with these?

 

[NickAu]

Nice looking fish.

 

[Munroco]

Ventral fin

 

[jag51186]

Beautiful!! Impressive catching skills! I can't imagine it's easy to catch something named a darter!!

 

[LyraGuppi]

Ventral fin

Phew, thanks.
 
 

Beautiful!! Impressive catching skills! I can't imagine it's easy to catch something named a darter!!

Took nearly an hour to get the fish and photos xD