Fletcher Stone

NCSU alum 🐺• Conservationist • Small fish enthusiast • Writer/Poet • No system but the ecosystem

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

Going to give this #scicomm thing a go. You may know me as ncangling on instagram. Here to share a love and appreciation of native fish. This Sandhills Chub (Semotilus lumbee) picture is the only fitting way I could begin my account.

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

@Philipp_Mauri It honestly just smelled very fishy, which was surprising. I’m not sure if the meat itself will carry the scent or if it’s only the European species that reflects the naming.

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

Hard to put it in words when you achieve a childhood dream. Coming face to face with this Arctic Grayling was in one word, majestic, and so fulfilling.

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

@RovingOsprey i’ll always be partial to my hoodeds

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

fishing with a legend of the multispecies online community, Leo Sheng (ExtremePhillyFishing). good times, cold water, few fish. fun stuff all around. tomorrow we try and find the shiners.

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

@jeff_witters @eatguineapigs I think so! I’m pretty sure it’s Spiranthes cernua, but I’m super amateur when it comes to plants.

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

the coolest sunfish

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

@BruceShark5 @Squidpastry these fish are works of art, to me at least. one of the most photogenic species.

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

first post in a whiiiile. had to return with a sandhills chub (the best chub) and a neat little everglades pygmy sunfish. I discovered this weird population of evergladei in a Sandhills headwater stream a couple years ago. far from home as their name implies!

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

@caparisek pawpaw, asimina triloba. the largest fruit native to the US

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

simply no better way to finish off august. they have been ripening in my room for a week and a half or so and the smell is ~heavenly~

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

@darterdancer okay awesome, thank you! that’s what I actually called it in the field... then added to my inat page as Bluntnose... but of course I allowed me second guess to myself and convinced myself otherwise.

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

darter bonanza from the last few days: Tuskaloosa Darter, Crown Darter, Rainbow Darter and Fringed Darter.

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

here’s 4 more: Mobile Logperch (super fun to snorkel with), Blackbanded Darter, Common Logperch (part of a weird P. caprodes pop. in the MS River embayment. Note orange on dorsal), and lastly a group of very skittish Brighteye Darters.

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

@aan_an_adventur does not pass the vibe check. but I have one because I don’t wanna end up being the guy who doesn’t have one if I need it someday.

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

and four more for good measure. Highland Shiner, Sawfin Shiner (I think), Warpaint Shiner (another species invasive in the New) and Silver Shiner.

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

here are some minnows from the trip. Saffron Shiner from the New River (invasive!), Central Stoneroller, New River Shiner and Streamline Chub.

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

a collection of darters from a short trip to the Clinch River basin this weekend, with the highlight being this extraordinary Ashy Darter (Etheostoma cinereum) a species I never thought I’d get to see in person. Other species are Tangerine, Wounded and Gilt.

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

fish of the (relative) deep. in depths of 650ft off the Florida Keys, live strange fish like the Hemingway’s Spinycheek Scorpionfish and his friends.

[Fletcher Stone @fstonefishes]

@lbatch67 should just be E. amblyopsis, to my knowledge E. pisonis is no longer considered to be found in the continental US.