This is the Appalachian darter Percina gymnocephala (right), one of the three endemic darters of the New River drainage and the only endemic Percina. They were only recently described by Beckham 1980 and relatively little is known about these guys. I've collected them in the Blue Ridge province usually in riffles and have never collected them in the Ridge and Valley or Appalachian Plateau. Underwater they can be seen perching on the bottom with intermittent bouts of swimming in the water column especially if I stir up sediments containing their food, macroinvertebrates. Like all Percina, they probably spawn by depositing their eggs into the substrate. This one was collected about a year ago in Chestnut Creek near Galax, Virginia.

This is a picture taken of the rainbow darter Etheostoma caeruleum using a v-shaped contraption for viewing fish. There are some questions as to if this fish is native to the New or not. It was suspected as native but has undergone a population explosion in recent years particularly in the northern parts of the drainage; however, I've collected it as far south as Dismal Creek, a tributary of Walker creek, a system in the middle of the NRD. Like a lot of darters, it is a riffle dwelling, benthic invertevore, that can be found over rock substrate and deposits eggs into the substrate.