Two catfish are distributed throughout Las Cruces streams. The long-whiskered catfish (Rhamdia rogersi) is present in Río Java and several small streams, including Quebrada Culvert and the upstream Quebrada Culebra. The other, the Pencil Catfish (Trichomycterusstriatus), I have only caught in Río Java.
Here, minnow traps were used to collect crabs and both species of catfish were caught as by-catch.
Additionally, while we collected the pencil catfish in 2013 and subsequent years, it doesn’t look like I ever published any images—so here are a few old images of Trichomycterus.
Some sheepshead (Sparidae, Archosargus probatocephalus) at Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River, Florida. Their common name comes from the set of incisor-like teeth visible from the front, and molar-like teeth visible in the open mouth.
Lepomis auritus (Centrachidae) in Crystal River and Rainbow Springs State Park, Florida.
It was surprising to see abundant sunfish in the brackish, tidally influenced, portion of Crystal River, and I was excited to see that I didn’t know which species it was on-sight. I think these are red-breasted sunfish, a species that may be found in Ohio, but relatively rarely, especially compared to bluegill (L. macrochirus) and green sunfish (L. cyanellus). In fact, the collection of Ohio fish that was used in Vertebrate Zoology at Kent State didn’t include this species.