When ready to spawn, a female would enter a male's territory and come to rest on the bottom with her body slightly curved. The male would mount her with his head and isthmus against her nape and his body parallel to, and over, hers. The pair would quiver vigorously for 10 to 15 seconds, ploughing through the gravel so that the eggs were released below the surface. Distribution of shield darters in NY state. Dark dots represent where actual samples of sheild darters were taken.
White dots represent historic distributions.
A 326 KB image of the shiled darter is also available for download .