Neosho Madtom Spawning

USGS/BRD/Biological Science Report 2002-0002

April 2, 2002

contact: Janice Albers Bryan and Mark L. Wildhaber
Columbia Environmental Research Center
U.S. Geological Survey
4200 New Haven Road
Columbia, Missouri 65201  USA
Phone: 573-875-5399

The majority of previous madtom reproductive studies involve direct observation in order to document reproductive behaviors (Bowen 1980, Fitzpatrick 1981, Stoeckel 1993, Chan 1995). Consequently, the information about madtom reproduction has been descriptive and not electronically documented. During the summer of 2001, we collected detailed information about madtom spawning through video recordings of one madtom species, the Neosho madtom (Noturus placidus). These fish were placed as mating pairs into tanks and their behaviors were recorded using a camera with infrared illuminators that were positioned directly above the nest.  Because this species is nocturnal (Moss 1981, Bulger 1999), the infrared illuminators allowed the fish to be seen in the dark without disturbance. 

This CD entitled “Neosho Madtom Spawning” contains ten video clips that are linked to this document. Each video clip contains a segment of the spawning with the individual behaviors during each segment listed in Table 1 below. To view the files click on the highlighted file name in this document or double click on the file name while viewing it under the directory for the CD drive. These videos, although they are from one spawn (out of 10), are representative of the behaviors seen in all the spawnings. This particular spawn occurred on 7/5/01 starting at approximately 1030 h and lasting 1.5 hours. The temperature was 26.1oC and these two fish were alone in the tank. In the videos, the female and male fish are distinguished by their secondary sexual characteristics: the male with his large swollen head and lips with a slim abdomen, and the female with her gravid, enlarged abdomen and smaller head. The female has her right pectoral spine missing due to breakage the previous year. For detailed information on over wintering and environmental conditions prior to this spawn refer to Albers (2001).

Previous descriptions and pictorial representations of madtom reproductive behaviors have focused on two main behaviors, Carousel and Embrace.  Bulger (1999) described Carousel as the ‘fish swim together head to tail in small circular pattern under structure’. Stoeckel (1993) also described a Carousel when he saw the ‘male and female chasing each other in a circular pattern’. Even though Fitzpatrick (1981) used a different term, ‘mutual caudal embrace with locomotion’, essentially it was the same Carousel behavior. 

Embrace has also been described using different terminology. Bowen (1980) used the term ‘spawning embrace’, while Fitzpatrick (1981) and Stoeckel (1993) used the term ‘caudal embrace’. Finally, Bulger (1999) used the term ‘tail curl’ where the ‘fish lay side by side, head to tail; male has tail wrapped around head of female and both fish quiver’.

Fitzpatrick (1981) found Embrace to be ‘intimately associated with courtship and spawning’. He described one spawning episode involving the male wrapping his caudal fin around the female’s head as the female ‘pushed herself forward against the male’s caudal peduncle four times and then expelled the eggs during a series of rapid spasms’. He observed only this one Embrace which was followed by an egg deposition consisting of 20 eggs. Chan (1995) observed the spawning of the brown madtom (N. phaeus) and again the fish were in an Embrace where the male fish wrapped his tail around the head of the female and quivered, then a ‘minute pause at the end when the female deposited the egg or eggs’. Even though egg deposition occurs during an Embrace, Embrace can occur without oviposition and with pairs that never spawn (Bowen 1980, Bulger 1999, Albers 2001).

Throughout these Neosho madtom video clips, Carousel and Embrace are seen routinely. There are three video clips that show a pattern of Carousel and Embrace followed by egg deposition (Embrace 1.mpg, Embrace 2.mpg, Embrace 3.mpg). As more eggs are deposited the fish perform more egg care behaviors including rubbing the eggs with their ventral body surface and wriggling their pelvic fins over the eggs (Egg Care 1.mpg, Egg Care 2.mpg). An interesting behavior that has never been described before involves the female using her head to systematically rub the male from the abdomen to the urogenital pore (Rubbing 1.mpg, Rubbing 2.mpg, Rubbing 3.mpg). This behavior suggests that the female is stimulating the male possibly for sperm production, and indeed milt was seen radiating from the male fish near its’ genital area. This stream of whitish liquid can be seen flowing in the bottom left corner of the image, away from the males’ genital area. Due to the difficulty in identifying the milt in the original video clip (Rubbing 1.mpg), a shorter clip that focuses on that section of time has been included in which the period of milt observation was repeated five times (Milt1.mpg), this clip has also been blacked out except for the milt (Milt2.mpg). After the pair finished spawning the male chased the female out of the nest. She was subsequently removed and found to be devoid of any large mature eggs. The postspawn eggs were a yellowish orange color and adhered to the gravel and one another in a mass (Eggs.jpg). Together with previous descriptions of madtom spawning, these video clips offer a more precise picture of the intimate behaviors involved in madtom spawning.

Table 1.  Summary of all Video Clips

File Name

Length
 (sec)

Sequence of Behaviors

Embrace 1.mpg

33

Swimming, Carousel, Embrace, Egg Deposition

Embrace 2.mpg

50

Egg Rub, Carousel, Embrace, Egg Deposition

Embrace 3.mpg

43

Embrace, Swimming, Embrace, Egg Deposition

Egg Care 1.mpg

71

Egg Rub

Egg Care 2.mpg

60

Egg Rub, Embrace, Egg Deposition

Rubbing 1.mpg

18

Female rubbing male

Rubbing 2.mpg

34

Egg Rub, Female rubbing male, Egg Rub

Rubbing 3.mpg

112

Egg Rub, Female rubbing male, Egg Rub

Milt1.mpg

10

Female rubbing male, Milt

Milt2.mpg

10

Focused area in lower left corner

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Jim Randolph of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Tulsa District for funding this project, Ted Schwartz of the Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC) for his assistance with digitizing the video images and the CERC staff for their support of this study.      

Literature Cited

Albers, J. A. 2001. Influence of photoperiod and temperature on the Neosho madtom (Noturus placidus) reproductive cycle and the effects of flowing water on Neosho madtom reproductive behavior. Master’s thesis. University of Missouri, Columbia.

Bowen, C. A. 1980. The life history of the brindled madtom Noturus miurus (Jordan) in Salt Creek, Hocking and Vinton counties, Ohio.  Master’s thesis. Ohio State University, Columbus.

Bulger, A. G. 1999. Population structure, habitat use, and breeding behavior of the Neosho madtom, Noturus placidus.  Master’s thesis, Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas.

Chan, M. D. 1995. Life history and bioenergetics of the brown madtom, Noturus phaeus. Master’s thesis, University of Mississippi, Oxford.

Fitzpatrick, K. C. 1981. Comparative reproductive behavior of the slender (Noturus exilis), brindled (N. miurus), and freckled (N. nocturnus) madtoms (Pisces: Ictaluridae). Master’s thesis, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Stoeckel, J. N. 1993. Controlled cultivation techniques for the recovery of threatened fishes in Virginia. Doctoral dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg.

Author's note. This article is a copy of a report which is officially part of the Biological Report Series of the U.S. Geological Survey and thus, can be cited as follows: Albers, J.L. and M.L. Wildhaber. Neosho madtom spawning. Biological Science Report USGS/BRD/BSR 2002-0002