Wayne C. Starnes

Diversity, Distribution, and Conservation Status of the Native Freshwater Fishes of the Southern United States

Abstract The Southeastern Fishes Council Technical Advisory Committee reviewed the diversity, distribution, and status of all native freshwater and diadromous fishes across 51 major drainage units of the southern United States. The southern United States supports more native fishes than any area of comparable size on the North American continent north of Mexico, but also has a high proportion of its fishes in need of conservation action. The review included 662 native freshwater and diadromous fishes and 24 marine fishes that are significant components of freshwater ecosystems. Of this total, 560 described, freshwater fish species are documented, and 49 undescribed species are included provisionally pending formal description. Described subspecies (86) are recognized within 43 species, 6 fishes have undescribed subspecies, and 9 others are recognized as complexes of undescribed taxa. Extinct, endangered, threatened, or vulnerable status is recognized for 28% (187 taxa) of southern freshwater and diadromou...

Biology of the Blackside Dace Phoxinus cumberlandensis

The biology of the blackside dace Phoxinus cumberlandensis (Cyprinidae) was investigated in the upper Cumberland River drainage in 1977, 1978 and 1981. The dace inhabited small, cool upland tributaries which have near equal riffle-to-pool ratios where it frequented pool areas having extensive cover. It occurred sporadically in the Cumberland Mt. region and was more generally distributed in the Cumberland Plateau area. Sand followed by periphyton and organic detritus constituted the major contents of the digestive tract. Macroinvertebrates generally occurred infrequently but were the entire diet in winter. Diet changed seasonally but did not change with size or age. Pimephales notatus and Campostoma anomalum were the only associated species whose diet appeared to overlap with Phoxinus cumberlandensis. Based on the presence of mature eggs, spawning began in April and extended perhaps as late as July. Fecundity averaged 1540 ova/female. Spawning occurs over gravel nests of the stoneroller minnow Campostoma anomalum. Blackside dace appear to have a life span of 3 years with females having greater survivorship; growth is rapid in both sexes the 1st year but slows the following years with females having the slower rate. Phoxinus cumberlandensis is considered a threatened species due to habitat degradation related to surface mining. INTRODUCTION The blackside dace Phoxinus cumberlandensis, recently described by Starnes and Starnes (1978), is known only from isolated, small upland streams in the upper Cumberland River drainage of Kentucky and Tennessee, mostly above Cumberland Falls. It displays brilliant coloration, particularly when in nuptial condition, and is among the most ornate of all cyprinids. The species is considered threatened due to degradation of habitat in the upper Cumberland drainage by coal surface mining. STUDY AREA AND METHODS The main study area, Youngs Creek, located 10 km NNW of Williamsburg, Whitley Co., Kentucky, is a small upland stream (altitude 265-340m) flanked by fields and deciduous forest. A belt of mature deciduous trees and hemlock with interlocking canopy borders the stream. With this cover, stream temperatures rarely exceed 23 C. In dry weather, water clarity ranges from clear to slightly murky. Substrate varies from cobble and bedrock slabs in riffles to rubble, boulders and sand in pools, with negligible to moderate siltation. Riffles vary in depth from 5-15 cm, pools from 15 cm-1 m deep. Blackside dace were usually associated with undercut banks, rock slabs or brush in pools and gentle runs. Additional observations were made in Little Clear Creek, Bell Co., Kentucky, which is overall similar in local habitat characteristics but has a slightly higher gradient and offers more limited reaches of habitat. Sampling was conducted in Youngs Creek April-October 1977, December 1977 and March 1978; excessive flooding prevented sampling in November 1977 and thick ice cover prevented sampling in January-February 1978. Population estimates for blackside dace were made from September collections using sodium cyanide. Three 15-m sections of the stream were sampled; 50 specimens were retained for age and growth studies and the remainder were returned alive to the stream. Because of their threatened status, and because of complicated procedures for studying the relatively unvaried detritivorous diet, monthly seine samples of dace for diet studies were limited to 10 specimens though larger samples were taken in some months for other studies. Syntopic species were also taken for comparison. Supplementary observations on feeding and spawning activities were made in Little Clear Creek in May 1981.

A New Cyprinid of the Genus Phoxinus Endemic to the Upper Cumberland River Drainage

FITZSIMONS, J. M. 1970. Comparative behavior and systematics of two genera of goodeid fishes (Atheriniformes, Cyprinodontoidei) from the Mexican Plateau. Unpubl. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 1972. A revision of two genera of goodeid fishes (Cyprinodontiformes, Osteichthyes) from the Mexican Plateau. Copeia 1972:728-756. HUBBS, C. L., AND C. L. TURNER. 1939. Studies of the fishes of the order Cyprinodontes. XVI. A revision of the Goodeidae. Misc. Publ. Mus. Zool. Univ. Mich. 42. MILLER, R. R. 1948. The cyprinodont fishes of the Death Valley system of eastern California and southwestern Nevada. Ibid. 68. , AND J. M. FITZSIMONS. 1971. Ameca splendens, a new genus and species of goodeid fish from western Mexico, with remarks on the classification of the Goodeidae. Copeia 1971:1-13.

Effects of Invasive Tissue Collection on Rainbow Trout, Razorback Sucker, and Bonytail Chub

Abstract Histological examination and biochemical assays of fish tissues are used for disease detection, genetic characterizations, contaminant analyses, and the detection of stable isotopes. However, tissue sampling usually requires invasive sampling procedures that may harm or kill an organism under investigation. For this reason, invasive procedures are rarely used with threatened, endangered, or other sensitive species. If invasive tissue sampling could be performed with little harm, a wide array of sophisticated techniques could be employed to assist in protection and management of species in decline. We subjected rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss to nonlethal invasive sampling of fin, muscle, and liver tissue. Techniques first developed for trout were applied to two endangered fishes, razorback sucker Xyrauchen texanus and bonytail chub Gila elegans. Acute (mortality) and chronic (suppression of growth rate) effects of tissue removal were evaluated in a hatchery for control and treatment groups of e...

Comments on the genus Apareiodon Eigenmann (Characiformes: Parodontidae) with the description of a new species from the Gran Sabana region of eastern Venezuela

STEBBINS, R. C., J. M. LOWENSTEIN, AND N. W. COHEN. 1967. A field study of the lava lizard (Tropidurus albemarlensis) in the Galapagos Islands. Ecology 48: 839-851. STONEBURNER, D. L., AND J. I. RICHARDSON. 1981. Role of temperature in loggerhead turtle nest site selection. Copeia 1981:238-241. VINEGAR, A. 1974. Evolutionary implications of temperature-induced anomalies of development in snake embryos. Herpetologica 30:73-74. WERNER, D. I. 1978. On the biology of Tropidurus delanonis, Baur (Iguanidae) Z. Tierpsychol. 47:337395.

Taxonomic Status of the Percid Fish Etheostoma nigrum susanae

Middle America, north of the northern boundary of Venezuela and Colombia. Rept. U.S. Comm. Fish., App. 10. LACHNER, E. A., AND R. E. JENKINS. 1971. Systematics, distribution, and evolution of the chub genus Nocomis Girard (Pisces, Cyprinidae) of eastern United States, with descriptions of new species. Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 85. Loos, J. J., AND W. S. WOOLCOTT. 1969. Hybridization and behavior in two species of Percina (Percidae). Copeia 1969:374-385. PAGE, L. M. 1974. The subgenera of Percina (Percidae: Etheostomatini). Copeia 1974:66-86. RANEY, E. C., AND C. L. HUBBS. 1948. Hadropterus notogrammus, a new percid Fish from Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Occ. Pap. Mus. Zool. Univ. Mich. 512

Distribution of the Silver Redhorse, Moxostoma anisurum (Cypriniformes: Catostomidae), in Arkansas

Abstract The silver redhorse Moxostoma anisurum is listed as threatened and considered critically imperiled (S1) in Arkansas by the Nature Conservancy. Only 12 records comprising 23 specimens of this species from five rivers are known from the state. A recent record is from the Strawberry River in Lawrence County during 2007; it and other records in Arkansas are reviewed. In 2007, 26 species of fish were collected with the silver redhorse, including the first vouchered specimens of the pealip redhorse Moxostoma pisolabrum and the pallid shiner Hybopsis amnis from the Strawberry River.

History of Fish Investigations in the Yadkin–Pee Dee River Drainage of North Carolina and Virginia with an Analysis of Nonindigenous Species and Invasion Dynamics of Three Species of Suckers (Catostomidae)

Abstract North Carolinas river drainages continue to lose their faunal distinctiveness as nonnative fish species establish themselves and expand their distributions, resulting in biotic homogenization. One such example is the Pee Dee drainage on the Atlantic Slope. It is the most speciose drainage in North Carolina, inhabited by 113 species of which 34 are nonindigenous, many introduced from adjacent drainages. The history of fish investigations in the Pee Dee in North Carolina and Virginia is detailed herein. The fauna was first sampled by Cope in 1869 at two conjoined sites—Yadkin River and Gobble Creek, a small tributary at the Yadkin River site (Cope 1870). Cope described numerous new taxa from the drainage, and many subsequent researchers provided data that show additions of nonnative faunal elements. As a case study, indications are that Hypentelium roanokense, Roanoke Hog Sucker, Hypentelium nigricans, Northern Hog Sucker, and Moxostoma rupiscartes, Striped Jumprock, were cryptically introduced af...