Despite the fact that the darters are one of the most abundantly represented groups of fishes in eastern North America, little is known of their behavior. The meager literature on life histories has been summarized by Raney and Lachner (1939). While attending the 1951 summer session of the University of Michigan Biological Station, the opportunity was presented to study the habits of the channel darter, Hadropterus copelandi (Jordan). Like several other darters, this species was found to have a simple breeding pattern, which consists of free scattering of the eggs over gravel with no parental care.