Recent collections of fishes in Minnesota hove resulted in the addition of two species, Moxostoma carinatum (Catostomidae) and Ammocrypta asprella (Percidae), to the state\u27s inland faunal list. Additional information on the distribution of 11 other species (Minytrema melanops, Hybopsis x-punctata, Opsopoeodus emiliae, Dionda nubiloa, Notropis amnis, Notropis texanus, Notropis umbratilis, Pimephales vigilax, Lepomis humilis, Etheostoma asprigene, ond Etheostoma microperca) is presented . Collections in large rivers are responsible for several new distribution records, and further sampling in such habitats should lead to further discoveries

Phillips, Gary L.

Underhill, James C.

English

University of Minnesota, Morris (UMM): Digital Well

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science Volume 34 Number 2 Article 27 1967 Revised Distribution Records of Some Minnesota Fishes, With Addition of Two Species to the Faunal List Gary L. Phillips University of Minnesota, Minneapolis James C. Underhill University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/jmas  Part of the Zoology Commons Recommended Citation Phillips, G. L., & Underhill, J. C. (1967). Revised Distribution Records of Some Minnesota Fishes, With Addition of Two Species to the Faunal List. Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science, Vol. 34 No.2, 177-180. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/jmas/vol34/iss2/27 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at University of Minnesota Morris Digital Well. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science by an authorized editor of University of Minnesota Morris Digital Well. For more information, please contact skulann@morris.umn.edu. Revised Distribution Records of Some Minnesota Fishes, With Addition of Two Species to the Fauna/ List GARY L. PHILLIPS and JAMES C. UNDERHILL University of Minnesota, Minneapolis ABSTRACT - Recent collections of fishes in Minnesota hove resulted in the addition of two spe-cies, Moxostomo corinotum (Cotostomidoe) ond Ammocrypfo ospre//o (Percidoe), to the stole's in-land founol list. Additional information on the distribution of 11 other species (Minytremo me-/onops, Hybopsis x-punctofo, Opsopoeodus emi/iae, Diondo nubilo, Notropis omnis, Nofropis fex-onus, Nofropis umbrofi/is, Pimephales vigilox, Lepomis humi/is, Etheostomo osprigene, ond Etheo-sfomo microperca) is presented . Collections in lorge rivers ore responsible for several new distribu-tion records, ond further sampling in such hobitots should leod to further discoveries. Since the last comprehensive treatment of the fish fauna of Minnesota (Eddy and Surber, 1947) , a number of species have been added to the state's fauna! list (Un-derhill, 1957; Eddy and Underhill 1959; Nordlie et al, 1960; Schumacher and Eddy, 1960). Two species, Moxostoma carinatum ( Catostomidae) and A mmocrypta asprella ( Percidae) , were taken in re-cent collections by the authors, their associates, and per-sonnel of the Minnesota Conservation Department, and are reported for the first time from within Minnesota in the present paper. There is also presented more detailed information on 11 other species whose distributions in the state have recently come to be better understood. Thirty-six specimens of the river redhorse, M oxostoma carinatum (Cope), ranging in total length from 32 to 76 centimeters, were collected by Conservation Department personnel in Lake St. Croix in the summer of 1966. The pharyngeal teeth of M. carinatum are heavy and molari-form (Fig. l). This characteristic distinguishes it from other Minnesota redhorses, which have fragile , comb-like teeth. A skeleton of M. carinatum, including the diagnostic pharyngeal teeth, was found on a sandbar at the mouth of the Sunrise River, Chisago County, on Oc-tober 21, 1966. These specimens ex tend the known range of this species approximately 150 miles northward in the Mississippi River ( Fig. 2). Examination of redhorscs (misidentified as M. aure-olum [now M. macrolepidotum]), in the coliection at the Gary L. Phillips (B.S. Hamline , 1961 , M.A. University of Kansas , 1964) is a graduate student and James C. Underhill (B.S. University of Minnesota, Duluth, 1949, M.A. University of Minnesota, 1952, Ph.D. University of Minnesota, 1955) is an Associate Professor in the Zoology Department of Ihe Uni-versity of Minnesota. Professor Underhill taught at the Univer-sity of South Dakota ( 1955-59) before joining the faculty at the University of Minnesota. His chief research interests lie in the field of aquatic biology, including limnological investigations and studies of the ecology of Minnesota fishes. The authors gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of Mr. Howard Krosch and Mr. Jack Skrypeck of the Minnesota Con-servation Department , in donating specimens used in this study . Several persons from the Zoology Department of the University of Minnesota participated in collecting activities. Special thanks are due also to two other members of the Zoology Department: Professor William Schmid, who made the photograph of pharyn-geal teeth, and Mrs . Marilyn Steere, who prepared the maps. Field work was supported in part by funds from the Gradu-ate School, University of Minnesota. Journal of, Volume Thirty-four, No. 2, 1967 FIGURE 1. Pharyngeal arch of the river redhorse, Moxostoma carinatum , showing molariform pharyngeal teeth. University of Minnesota's Natural History Museum re-vealed specimens of M. carinatum taken in 1899 from the Minnesota River valley in Scott County at Belle Plaine and Jordan. Harlan and Speaker ( 1956: 78) noted the occurrence of the river redhorse in Iowa in the 1890's but considered that it had possibly become extinct in Iowa waters since then. The species inhabits large rivers, and the lack of knowledge concerning its distribution may be due to in-adequate sampling of its habitat. The spotted sucker, Minytrema melanops ( Rafin-esque), appears to be rare in Minnesota. It has been taken in the Mississippi River and its tributaries, includ-ing the St. Croix ( Greene, 1935: 63) and the Minnesota (Eddy and Surber, 1947:133), although no specimens are extant from the latter. Two specimens, a male and a female , were seined in Lake Pepin at King's Cooley on October 31, 1965, and the Conservation Department took five specimens from Lake St. Croix in 1966 (Fig. 2). The gravel chub, Hybopsis x-punctata Hubbs and Crowe, was not included in the Minnesota fauna! list by 177 I O W A MAP OF MINNES OTA FIGURE 2. Distribution records of the spotted sucker, Minytrema melanops (open circles), river redhorse, Moxostoma carinatum (open triangles) , least darter, Etheostoma microperca (closed circles). mud darter, Etheostoma asprige11e (closed triangles), and crystal darter, Ammocrypta asprel/a (squares) , in Minne-sota. I o W ,\ MAP OF MINNESOTA .. rc2t• •"".,_' ._,_ ,_ ., FIGURE 3. Distribution records of the redfin shiner, Notropis 11111bratilis (open circles), gravel chub, Hybopsis x-punctata )open triangles), pallid shiner, Notropis amnis (closed circle) , and weed shiner, Notropis texanus (closed triangles ) , in Minnesota. 178 MAP OF MINNESOTA FIGURE 4. Distribution records of the pugnose minnow, Opso-poeodus emi/iae (open circles), Ozark minnow, Dionda nubila ( open triangles), orange-spotted sunfish, Lepomis humilis ( closed circles), and bullhead minnow, Pimephales vigilax (closed tri-angles), in Minnesota. Underhill (1957), but specimens taken prior to 1957 from the Root River by the Conservation Department have since been found in the University of Minnesota collection. On October 12, 1966, one was taken from the Upper Iowa River, 1.5 miles east of Granger, Fillmore County ( Fig. 3). The species is rare and may be dwin-dling in and around Minnesota (Hubbs and Lagler, 1958: 79). According to Harlan and Speaker (1956:91 ), 'This chub has very specific living requirements and as its name implies, is usually found in swift water over a pea-gravel bottom." Old records of the pugnose minnow, Opsopoeodus emiliae Hay, exist for the Root and Zumbro Rivers near the Mississippi River, and 41 specimens were seined from the Mississippi near Brownsville, Houston County, on October 12, 1965. This species was also collected at Steamboat Bay, Lake Pepin, by the Conservation De-partment in 1966. The latter specimens extend the known range of this minnow slightly northward in the Missis-sippi River (Fig. 4). The Ozark minnow, Dionda nubila (Forbes), was found in Minnesota in the south branch of the Zumbro River, Dodge County, and Otter C(eek, Mower County ( Underhill, I 957: 20). Since then, the minnow has been collected several times in the Zumbro-River and Cedar-River drainage basins. The northernmost record in Min-nesota is based on five specimens collected May 19, 1965, in the north branch of the middle fork of the Zum-bro River in Dodge County (Fig. 4). Harlan and Speak-The Minnesota Academy of Science er ( 1956:99) noted that the Ozark minnow is restricted in lowa to lime rock creeks and streams in the north-eastern portion, and suggested that its occurrence there may be due to some geological requirement met in no other area of the state. Until recently Minnesota specimens of the pallid shin-er, Notropis amnis Hubbs and Greene, were not repre-sented in the University of Minnesota collection. Un-derhill (1957: 18) summarized what was known at that time of the distribution of the species in the Mississippi River in Minnesota, based on collections borrowed from the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. How-ever, four specimens were seined from the Mississippi near Brownsville, Houston County, on October 12, 1965 (Fig. 3). The weed shiner, Notropis texanus (Girard), is now known from the Red River drainage basin in Minnesota as well as from the lower Mississippi basin (Fig. 3). As noted previously (Hubbs, 1926:39, Hubbs and Greene, 1928:372), this shiner is easily confused with the black-chin shiner, Notropis heterodon: both have a black lat-eral band that encroaches on the chin. Several specimens of N. texanus misidentified as N. heterodon were found by Underhill (1957). Subsequent re-examination of all collections of N. heterodon from Minnesota has revealed many N. texanus from the Ottertail River, a tributary of the Red River. The two species were together in most of these collections. A detailed study of all Minnesota material is presently in progress. Distinguishing charac-teristics of N. texanus from Minnesota are seven anal fin-rays, lateral line usually incomplete, and length of eye greater than length of snout (Table 1). The redfin shiner, Notropis umbratilis (Girard), was restricted in Minnesota to the Cedar River drainage ba-sin by Underhill ( 1957: 16). Recent collections indi-cate that the range of this species is more extensive and includes the Zumbro River also (Fig. 3). The largest collections of N. umbratilis to date have been taken from Otter Creek, Mower County: 18 specimens from one mile east of Lyle, on August 15, 1960, and 37 specimens at Lyle on September 24, 1965. The northernmost rec-ord to date is represented by five specimens collected on May 19, 1965, from the north branch of the middle fork of the Zumbro River, Dodge County. Prior to 1964 the bullhead minnow, Pimephales vigi-lax (Baird and Girard), had been taken only twice in Minnesota (Underhill, 1957:21) but has appeared more frequently in recent collections. On October 31, 1964, it was taken in four collections from or near Lake Pepin, including 45 specimens from the Whitewater River at Highway 61, Wabasha County, and 66 specimens from the Zumbro River at Highway 61 in the same county, and on October 12, 1965 ( Fig. 4), 28 specimens were taken from the Mississippi near Brownsville, Houston County. A synopsis of state distribution records on the orange-spotted sunfish, Lepo mis humilis (Girard), is here in-cluded to supplement the general discussion of Eddy and Surber (194 7: 23 7). Specimens are known from the Minnesota, Missouri, and lower Mississippi drainage ba-sins in Minnesota (Fig. 4), but none from the upper Mississippi (north of St. Anthony Falls), Red River, St. Croix, Superior, or Arctic drainages. The crystal darter, Ammocrypta asprella (Jordan), was taken for the first time in Minnesota inland waters on August 16, 1961, at two stations on the Zumbro River, Wabasha County. Six specimens were coUected in swift water over sand and gravel below the Highway 61 bridge, one mile north of Kellogg, Minnesota. Another individual was taken two miles upstream (Fig. 2). A previous rec-ord for the crystal darter exists from the Mississippi at Winona (Bailey and Gosline, 1955:37) in the boundary waters of the state. The mud darter, Etheostoma asprigene (Forbes), is known from the Mississippi as far north as the head of Lake St. Croix (Greene, 1935:184), and from Hay Creek, Goodhue County (Underhill, 1957: 23). It re-cently appeared in collections from the lower Mississippi (below St. Anthony Falls) and tributaries (Fig. 2). One specimen was taken in Rollingstone Creek, Minne-sota City, Winona County, on November 20, 1964. The largest single collection made by the authors (four speci-mens) was at the same place on October 12, 1965. The mud darter has also been taken from the Whitewater River in Wabasha County, the Mississippi at Browns-ville, and from Lake Pepin on three occasions. As its common name suggests, the mud darter is thought to pre-fer sloughs and sluggish waters but our records from Rollingstone Creek show that it also lives in swift water having a boulder-rubble bottom. The least darter, Etheostoma microperca Jordan and Gilbert, has a disjunct distribution in Minnesota. Until 1962 it had been collected only in tributaries of the Red T ADLE 1. Anal fin-ray counts, pharyngeal teeth counts, length of eye in relation to snout length, and numbers of specimens of the weed shiner, Notropis texanus, from Minnesota with complete and incomplete lateral lines. Pharyngeal N Anal Fin N Eye-Snout N Lal era! N Teeth (145) Rays (151) Length ( 125) Line (136) 2,4-4,2 68 6 1 Eye > Snout 114 Complete 16 2,4-4,1 16 7 150 Eye = Snout 6 Incomplete 120 1,4-4,2 30 8 0 Eye < Snout 5 1,4-4,1 26 0,4-4,1 1 2,5-4, 1 I 2,2,5-4,2 I 2,4-4,1,2 1,5-5,l Journal of, Volume Thirty-four, No. 2, 1967 179 River and in the upper Mississippi River (above St. An-thony Falls). In 1962, a large population of this small-est of Minnesota fishes was found in Otter Creek, a tri-butary of the Cedar River, near Lyle, Minnesota (Fig. 2). Meek (1892; 1893) reported the least darter as "rare" in the Cedar River drainage in Iowa, and Cleary ( 1953: 634) did not collect it during an intensive sur-vey of the same river system. The Otter Creek population is presumably a relict of a somewhat larger population that may have existed in the late nineteenth century. Collections from southern Minnesota account for much of the distributional information presented above. Knowledge of the distribution and status of such species as Dionda nubila and Notropis umbratilis has been im-proved by sampling streams of the lower Mississippi and Cedar River drainages, particularly the Zumbro River and Otter Creek. Collections from the lower Mississippi itself indicate that such species as Opsopoeodus emiliae and Pimephales vigilax may prove to be fairly common as more information is gathered. Further sampling here and in other large rivers, which have been relatively ne-glected, will prove most helpful in further refining knowl-edge of the distribution of Minnesota fishes. References BAILEY, R. M. and GOSLINE, W. A. 1955. Variation and systematic significance of vertebral counts in the Amer-ican fishes of the family Percidae. Univ. Mich. Mus. Zoo!. Misc. Publ. , 93: pp. 1-44. CLEARY, R. E. 1953. An annotated check-list of the fishes of the Iowa-Cedar River drainage basin in Iowa. Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci., 60: pp. 626-635. EDDY, S. and SURBER, T. 1947. Northern fishes with special reference to the upper Mississippi valley (2nd Ed.) . Minneapolis, Univ. Minn. Press. 180 EDDY, S. and UNDERHILL, J. C. 1959. Recent changes and corrections for the Minnesota fish fauna. Copeia: pp. 342-343. GREENE, C. W. 1935. The distribution of Wisconsin fishes. Madison, Wis. Cons. Comm. HARLAN, J. R. and SPEAKER, E. B. 1956. Iowa fish and fishing (3rd Ed.). Iowa St. Cons. Comm. HUBBS, C. L. 1926. A check-list of the fishes of the Great Lakes and tributary waters, with nomenclatorial notes and analytical keys. Univ. Mich. Mus. Zoo!. Misc. Puhl., 15: pp. 1-77. HUBBS, C. L. and GREENE, C. W. 1928. Further notes on the fishes of the Great Lakes and tributary waters. Paps. Mich. A cad. Sci., Arts, and Letts. 8 (1927): pp. 371-392. HUBBS, C. L. and LAGLER, K. F . 1958. Fishes of the Great Lakes region (Rev. Ed.). Cranbrook Inst. Sci. Bull. 26. MEEK, S. E. 1892. Report upon the fishes of Iowa, based upon observations and collections made during 1889, 1890, and 1891. Bull. U.S. Fish. Comm. 10 (1890): pp. 217-248. MEEK, S. E. 1893. The fishes of the Cedar River basin. Proc. Iowa A cad. Sci., l: 3 ( 1892), pp. 105-112. NORDLIE, F., UNDERHILL, J.C., and EDDY, S. 1961. New distributional records of some Minnesota fishes. Proc. Minn. Acad. Sci., 29: pp. 255-258. SCHUMACHER, R. F. and EDDY, S. 1960. The appearance of pink salmon, Oncorhynchus gorbuscha (Walbaum), in Lake Superior. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. , 89:4, pp. 371-372. UNDERHILL, J . C. 1957. The distribution of Minnesota minnows and darters in relation to Pleistocene glacia-tion. Minn. Mus. Nat. Hist. 0cc. Pap. 7: pp. 1-45. The Minnesota Academy of Science 

Revised Distribution Records of Some Minnesota Fishes, With Addition of Two Species to the Faunal List

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Revised Distribution Records of Some Minnesota Fishes, With Addition of Two Species to the Faunal List

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