Keith, William E.

Petersen, James C.

Usrey, Faron D.

Wise, James A.

ScholarWorks@UARK

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of ScienceVolume 50 Article 291996Recent Record of the White Sucker, Catostomuscommersoni, in the White River System, ArkansasJames C. PetersenU.S. Geological SurveyFaron D. UsreyU.S. Geological SurveyWilliam E. KeithArkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology CommissionJames A. WiseArkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology CommissionFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaasPart of the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology CommonsThis article is available for use under the Creative Commons license: Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0). Users are able toread, download, copy, print, distribute, search, link to the full texts of these articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking priorpermission from the publisher or the author.This General Note is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the ArkansasAcademy of Science by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu.Recommended CitationPetersen, James C.; Usrey, Faron D.; Keith, William E.; and Wise, James A. (1996) "Recent Record of the White Sucker, Catostomuscommersoni, in the White River System, Arkansas," Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 50 , Article 29.Available at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol50/iss1/29141A Recent Record of the White Sucker, Catostomus commersoni,in the White River System, ArkansasJames C. Petersen and Faron D.UsreyU.S. Geological Survey401 Hardin RoadLittle Rock, Arkansas 7221 1In Arkansas the white sucker, Catostomus commersoni xis an uncommon inhabitant of small streams and is con-fined to the Arkansas and White River systems near theArkansas-Missouri border, which is on the southern edgeof the white sucker's distributional range (Robison andBuchanan, 1988). In Arkansas the white sucker is mostcommonly collected in the IllinoisRiver drainage, whichis a part of the Arkansas River system. As recently as thesummer of 1995, sampling of four sites in the IllinoisRiver drainage, headwater reaches of Osage and SpringCreeks, conducted by the Arkansas Department ofPollution Control and Ecology (ADPCE) yielded 25 whitesuckers, indicating a well-established population of whitesuckers in these spring-fed headwaters in the IllinoisRiver drainage.In the White River system, the white sucker is com-monly collected in southern Missouri (Pflieger, 1975) andhas been very commonly collected in TaneycomoReservoir and its tributaries and in some tributaries toTable Rock Reservoir on the White River (Tim Banek,Missouri Department of Conservation, pers. comm.,1996) about 10-20 km north of the Arkansas-Missouri bor-der. Meek (1894) reported the presence of white suckersin the Middle Fork of White River at Fayetteville,Arkansas, and Spring River at Mammoth Spring,Arkansas. However, Robison and Buchanan (1988) reportonly one recent record of the white sucker from theWhite River system in Arkansas. This record is from a col-lection by the Bureau ofSport Fisheries and Wildlife inthe Sugarloaf Creek area (Boone County) in 1969(Thomas M. Buchanan, Westark Community College,pers. comm., 1996). The locality of this record is one ofabout 60 localities which Robison and Buchanan (1988)report sampled in the White River system upstream ofthe Buffalo River. Cashner (1967) reported examining awhite sucker from a fisherman's creel below the dam onthe White River at Batesville, Arkansas.Recently, a single white sucker was collected withinthe White River system from Yocum Creek (T. 21 N., R.22 W., sec. 30) in Carroll County southeast of the town ofOak Grove on 4 August 1994 by the U.S. GeologicalSurvey (USGS) and ADPCE. One collection effort withan active duration of 50 minutes was made using a back-WilliamE. Keith andJames A.WiseArkansas Department ofPollution Control and EcologyP.O. Box 8913LittleRock, Arkansas 72219pack electrofisher (pulsed DC). The collection was part ofish community sampling associated with a USGS stud)of the water quality of the Ozark Plateaus (Freiwald1991) and an ADPCE study of water quality in the uppeiWhite River drainage (Arkansas Department of PollutionControl and Ecology, 1995). Sampling at this location in1985, 1993 and 1995 and at two adjacent locations onYocum Creek in 1993 did not yield any white sucker speci-mens.The collected specimen had a total length of 332mm, standard length of 280 mm, and a live weight of 347grams. No external parasites or other anomalies werenoted. Distinguishing characteristics of the specimenwere the silvery body, small scales, and papillose lips(Robison and Buchanan, 1988). Photos documenting thedistinguishing characteristics were made and the speci-men was released in apparent good condition into thehabitat from which it was collected.Yocum Creek is a 4th-order stream flowing generallynorthward through the Springfield Plateau into TableRock Lake. Yocum Creek flows into Table Rock Lakeabout 8 km downstream of the collection site. At the col-lection site, Yocum Creek has a drainage area of 13,675ha. Yocum Creek is a perennial stream (Hunrichs, 1983);although data are few, the average discharge at the site isestimated to be about 1.5 to 2.0 m:Vs. Several springs flowinto Yocum Creek and its tributaries (Joseph and Green,1994). The largest of these springs, with a discharge ofabout 0.2 m:Vs flows into Spring Creek which flows intoYocum Creek 0.7 km downstream of the collection reach.The reach where the white sucker was collected containsa series of riffles, runs, and small pools. A stream habitatassessment of the reach was performed on 13 July 1993.The 260-meter reach had a mean width of 13 m and amean depth of 45 cm. The mean channel gradient is 3.7m per km. Measured velocities on that date ranged from0.24 to 0.98 meter per second with a mean velocity of0.45 meter per second. Cobble was the most commonsubstrate; gravel was almost as common. Water willow(Justicia americana) was present, but no other emergent orsubmerged macrophytes were observed within the reach.Approximately 75 percent of the watershed within theYocum Creek drainage basin upstream from the collec-Proceedings Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol.50, 1996141Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 50 [1996], Art. 29Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 1996?James C. Petersen, Faron D.Usrey, William E. Keith and James A.Wisetion reach is used for agricultural purposes, mostly pro-duction of poultry and cattle. Additional information onland use within the basin can be found in Joseph andGreen (1994). Most of the land adjoining one bank of thereach is pasture; consequently, much of that bank has fewtrees.Water-quality data have been collected by the USGSsince April1993 at a site approximately 100 meters down-stream of the reach. Yocum Creek is a well-bufferedstream with alkalinities ranging from about 120 to 150mg/L. Nutrient concentrations in Yocum Creek are high-er than in many Ozark Plateaus streams. Median concen-trations of dissolved nitrite plus nitrate (as nitrogen) andtotal phosphorus were 2.6 and 0.04 mg/L, respectively, insamples collected between April 1993 and September1995.The fish community sample collected on 4 August1994 indicates that stonerollers (Camposloma anomalumand C. oligolepis) and duskystripe shiners (Luxiluspilsbryi)are the numerically dominant species. Northern hogsuckers {Hypentelium nigricans) and golden redhorse(Moxostoma erythrurum) were collected, but comprised lessthan 2 percent of the sample. Pflieger (1975) notes thathabitats where white suckers are abundant usually arelargely devoid ofother suckers.The white sucker apparently is quite rare in Arkansas,particularly in the White River system. The explanationfor the relatively common occurrence in reservoirs andsouth-flowing tributaries of the White River in Missouriand the rare occurrence in the nearby north-flowing trib-utaries to the White River in Arkansas is unclear to us.However, slight differences inone or more critical factorsmay have substantial effects upon a species near the edgeof its distributional range. Additional fish communitysampling of Yocum Creek during the next several years isplanned by the U.S. Geological Survey. These samplingefforts may produce additional information on the exis-tence of the white sucker within the White River systemof Arkansas.Literature CitedArkansas Department ofPollution Control and Ecology.1995. Water quality, macroinvertebrate, and fish com-munity survey of the upper White River watershed,northwest Arkansas. Arkansas Department ofPollution Control and Ecology, Little Rock, Arkansas.85 pp.Cashner, R. C. 1967. A survey of the cold tailwaters ofthe White River in northwestern Arkansas, and acomparison of the White River with selected warm-water streams. Unpublished M.S. thesis. University ofArkansas, Fayetteville, 143 pp.Freiwald, D. A. 1991. National Water-Quality AssessmentProgram-Ozark Plateaus. U.S. Geological SurveyOpen-File Report 91-162. Little Rock, Arkansas. 2 pp.Hunrichs, R.A. 1983. Identification and classification ofperennial streams of Arkansas. U.S. GeologicalSurvey Water-Resources Investigations Report 83-4063. LittleRock, Arkansas. 1 sheet.Joseph, R.L. and W. R. Green. 1994. Water-quality recon-naissance and streamf lowgain and loss of YocumCreek basin, Carroll County, Arkansas. U.S.Geological Survey Open-File Report 94-537. LittleRock, Arkansas. 14 pp.Meek, S.E. 1894. A catalog of the fishes ofArkansas.Ann.Report Arkansas Geological Survey for 1891,2:216-276.Pflieger, W.L. 1975. The fishes of Missouri. MissouriDepartment of Conservation, Jefferson City,Missouri. 343 pp.Robison, H.W. and T.M.Buchanan. 1988. Fishes ofArkansas. The University of Arkansas Press,Fayetteville, Arkansas. 536 pp.Proceedings Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol.50, 1996142Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 50 [1996], Art. 29http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol50/iss1/29

Recent Record of the White Sucker, Catostomus commersoni, in the White River System, Arkansas

UARK (University of Arkansas )

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science Volume 50 Article 29 1996 Recent Record of the White Sucker, Catostomus commersoni, in the White River System, Arkansas James C. Petersen U.S. Geological Survey Faron D. Usrey U.S. Geological Survey William E. Keith Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology Commission James A. Wise Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology Commission Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas  Part of the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons Recommended Citation Petersen, James C.; Usrey, Faron D.; Keith, William E.; and Wise, James A. (1996) "Recent Record of the White Sucker, Catostomus commersoni, in the White River System, Arkansas," Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 50 , Article 29. Available at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol50/iss1/29 This article is available for use under the Creative Commons license: Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0). Users are able to read, download, copy, print, distribute, search, link to the full texts of these articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This General Note is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu. 141A Recent Record of the White Sucker, Catostomus commersoni,in the White River System, ArkansasJames C. Petersen and Faron D.UsreyU.S. Geological Survey401 Hardin RoadLittle Rock, Arkansas 7221 1In Arkansas the white sucker, Catostomus commersoni xis an uncommon inhabitant of small streams and is con-fined to the Arkansas and White River systems near theArkansas-Missouri border, which is on the southern edgeof the white sucker's distributional range (Robison andBuchanan, 1988). In Arkansas the white sucker is mostcommonly collected in the IllinoisRiver drainage, whichis a part of the Arkansas River system. As recently as thesummer of 1995, sampling of four sites in the IllinoisRiver drainage, headwater reaches of Osage and SpringCreeks, conducted by the Arkansas Department ofPollution Control and Ecology (ADPCE) yielded 25 whitesuckers, indicating a well-established population of whitesuckers in these spring-fed headwaters in the IllinoisRiver drainage.In the White River system, the white sucker is com-monly collected in southern Missouri (Pflieger, 1975) andhas been very commonly collected in TaneycomoReservoir and its tributaries and in some tributaries toTable Rock Reservoir on the White River (Tim Banek,Missouri Department of Conservation, pers. comm.,1996) about 10-20 km north of the Arkansas-Missouri bor-der. Meek (1894) reported the presence of white suckersin the Middle Fork of White River at Fayetteville,Arkansas, and Spring River at Mammoth Spring,Arkansas. However, Robison and Buchanan (1988) reportonly one recent record of the white sucker from theWhite River system in Arkansas. This record is from a col-lection by the Bureau ofSport Fisheries and Wildlife inthe Sugarloaf Creek area (Boone County) in 1969(Thomas M. Buchanan, Westark Community College,pers. comm., 1996). The locality of this record is one ofabout 60 localities which Robison and Buchanan (1988)report sampled in the White River system upstream ofthe Buffalo River. Cashner (1967) reported examining awhite sucker from a fisherman's creel below the dam onthe White River at Batesville, Arkansas.Recently, a single white sucker was collected withinthe White River system from Yocum Creek (T. 21 N., R.22 W., sec. 30) in Carroll County southeast of the town ofOak Grove on 4 August 1994 by the U.S. GeologicalSurvey (USGS) and ADPCE. One collection effort withan active duration of 50 minutes was made using a back-WilliamE. Keith andJames A.WiseArkansas Department ofPollution Control and EcologyP.O. Box 8913LittleRock, Arkansas 72219pack electrofisher (pulsed DC). The collection was part ofish community sampling associated with a USGS stud)of the water quality of the Ozark Plateaus (Freiwald1991) and an ADPCE study of water quality in the uppeiWhite River drainage (Arkansas Department of PollutionControl and Ecology, 1995). Sampling at this location in1985, 1993 and 1995 and at two adjacent locations onYocum Creek in 1993 did not yield any white sucker speci-mens.The collected specimen had a total length of 332mm, standard length of 280 mm, and a live weight of 347grams. No external parasites or other anomalies werenoted. Distinguishing characteristics of the specimenwere the silvery body, small scales, and papillose lips(Robison and Buchanan, 1988). Photos documenting thedistinguishing characteristics were made and the speci-men was released in apparent good condition into thehabitat from which it was collected.Yocum Creek is a 4th-order stream flowing generallynorthward through the Springfield Plateau into TableRock Lake. Yocum Creek flows into Table Rock Lakeabout 8 km downstream of the collection site. At the col-lection site, Yocum Creek has a drainage area of 13,675ha. Yocum Creek is a perennial stream (Hunrichs, 1983);although data are few, the average discharge at the site isestimated to be about 1.5 to 2.0 m:Vs. Several springs flowinto Yocum Creek and its tributaries (Joseph and Green,1994). The largest of these springs, with a discharge ofabout 0.2 m:Vs flows into Spring Creek which flows intoYocum Creek 0.7 km downstream of the collection reach.The reach where the white sucker was collected containsa series of riffles, runs, and small pools. A stream habitatassessment of the reach was performed on 13 July 1993.The 260-meter reach had a mean width of 13 m and amean depth of 45 cm. The mean channel gradient is 3.7m per km. Measured velocities on that date ranged from0.24 to 0.98 meter per second with a mean velocity of0.45 meter per second. Cobble was the most commonsubstrate; gravel was almost as common. Water willow(Justicia americana) was present, but no other emergent orsubmerged macrophytes were observed within the reach.Approximately 75 percent of the watershed within theYocum Creek drainage basin upstream from the collec-Proceedings Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol.50, 1996141Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 50 [1996], Art. 29Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 1996?James C. Petersen, Faron D.Usrey, William E. Keith and James A.Wisetion reach is used for agricultural purposes, mostly pro-duction of poultry and cattle. Additional information onland use within the basin can be found in Joseph andGreen (1994). Most of the land adjoining one bank of thereach is pasture; consequently, much of that bank has fewtrees.Water-quality data have been collected by the USGSsince April1993 at a site approximately 100 meters down-stream of the reach. Yocum Creek is a well-bufferedstream with alkalinities ranging from about 120 to 150mg/L. Nutrient concentrations in Yocum Creek are high-er than in many Ozark Plateaus streams. Median concen-trations of dissolved nitrite plus nitrate (as nitrogen) andtotal phosphorus were 2.6 and 0.04 mg/L, respectively, insamples collected between April 1993 and September1995.The fish community sample collected on 4 August1994 indicates that stonerollers (Camposloma anomalumand C. oligolepis) and duskystripe shiners (Luxiluspilsbryi)are the numerically dominant species. Northern hogsuckers {Hypentelium nigricans) and golden redhorse(Moxostoma erythrurum) were collected, but comprised lessthan 2 percent of the sample. Pflieger (1975) notes thathabitats where white suckers are abundant usually arelargely devoid ofother suckers.The white sucker apparently is quite rare in Arkansas,particularly in the White River system. The explanationfor the relatively common occurrence in reservoirs andsouth-flowing tributaries of the White River in Missouriand the rare occurrence in the nearby north-flowing trib-utaries to the White River in Arkansas is unclear to us.However, slight differences inone or more critical factorsmay have substantial effects upon a species near the edgeof its distributional range. Additional fish communitysampling of Yocum Creek during the next several years isplanned by the U.S. Geological Survey. These samplingefforts may produce additional information on the exis-tence of the white sucker within the White River systemof Arkansas.Literature CitedArkansas Department ofPollution Control and Ecology.1995. Water quality, macroinvertebrate, and fish com-munity survey of the upper White River watershed,northwest Arkansas. Arkansas Department ofPollution Control and Ecology, Little Rock, Arkansas.85 pp.Cashner, R. C. 1967. A survey of the cold tailwaters ofthe White River in northwestern Arkansas, and acomparison of the White River with selected warm-water streams. Unpublished M.S. thesis. University ofArkansas, Fayetteville, 143 pp.Freiwald, D. A. 1991. National Water-Quality AssessmentProgram-Ozark Plateaus. U.S. Geological SurveyOpen-File Report 91-162. Little Rock, Arkansas. 2 pp.Hunrichs, R.A. 1983. Identification and classification ofperennial streams of Arkansas. U.S. GeologicalSurvey Water-Resources Investigations Report 83-4063. LittleRock, Arkansas. 1 sheet.Joseph, R.L. and W. R. Green. 1994. Water-quality recon-naissance and streamf lowgain and loss of YocumCreek basin, Carroll County, Arkansas. U.S.Geological Survey Open-File Report 94-537. LittleRock, Arkansas. 14 pp.Meek, S.E. 1894. A catalog of the fishes ofArkansas.Ann.Report Arkansas Geological Survey for 1891,2:216-276.Pflieger, W.L. 1975. The fishes of Missouri. MissouriDepartment of Conservation, Jefferson City,Missouri. 343 pp.Robison, H.W. and T.M.Buchanan. 1988. Fishes ofArkansas. The University of Arkansas Press,Fayetteville, Arkansas. 536 pp.Proceedings Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol.50, 1996142Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 50 [1996], Art. 29https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol50/iss1/29

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Recent Record of the White Sucker, Catostomus commersoni, in the White River System, Arkansas

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