Buchanan, Thomas M.

Robison, Henry W.

Shirley, Ken

UARK (University of Arkansas )

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science Volume 47 Article 34 1993 New Distributional Records for Arkansas Sturgeons Thomas M. Buchanan University of Arkansas at Fort Smith Henry W. Robison Southern Arkansas University Ken Shirley Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas  Part of the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons Recommended Citation Buchanan, Thomas M.; Robison, Henry W.; and Shirley, Ken (1993) "New Distributional Records for Arkansas Sturgeons," Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 47 , Article 34. Available at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol47/iss1/34 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. 133New Distributional Records for Arkansas SurgeonsThomas M.Buchanan Henry W. RobisonDepartment of BiologyWestark Community CollegeFort Smith, AR72901Department of Biological SciencesSouthern Arkansas UniversityMagnolia, AR71753Ken ShirleyArkansas Game and Fish Commission, No. 2Natural Resources DriveLittle Rock, AR72205Of the three species of sturgeons known to occur inArkansas, only the shovelnose sturgeon, Scaphirhynchusplatorynchus (Rafinesque), is common in the state (Robisonand Buchanan, Fishes of Arkansas, Univ. Arkansas Press,Fayetteville, 1988). Prior to 1988 only three records forthe lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens Rafinesque, wereknown from Arkansas; two records were reported for thepallid sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus albus (Forbes andRichardson). The two S. albus records were based onreports from commercial fishermen who provided accu-rate descriptions of this species* but no vouchered speci-mens were available from the state. Robison andBuchanan (loc. cit) also included 5. albus in Arkansas'ichthyofauna because of valid records from the MississippiRiver ofMissouri and Louisiana.An increase in the sturgeon fishery of Arkansas in thelast few years has resulted inmore reports of a large whitesturgeon (6.8 kg or more) by commercial fishermen.These reports, which occur during the peak of the stur-geon spawning run from early March to mid April, comemainly from the Mississippi River and more rarely fromthe lower White River. We report the first voucheredrecord in Arkansas of 5. albus and twonew records for A.fulvescens. The two new records for A. fulvescens are thefirst from the White River. On 19 May 1989, a 1245 mmTL, 3.63 kg female A.fulvescens was caught by a commer-cial fisherman in the White River, Desha County. It wascaught ina trammel net fished in the eddy of the junctionof the two rivers. The specimen was freeze-dried and is ondisplay in the Westark Community College fish collection.On 29 April1992, one of us (K. S.) examined a live lakesturgeon at Prince's Fish Market inBrasfield, Arkansas. Itwas approximately 1524 mm TL(not measured), weighed21.34 kg, and was caught inlate March 1992 by Mr.A.D.Adcock in the White River at Devalls Bluff,PrairieCounty. This specimen was subsequently released into theWhite River.The first vouchered record of 5. albus for Arkansas wastaken in April 1988 (exact date not known) from theMississippi River at Mile 665 near Helena, Phillips County,by a commercial fisherman using a trotline baited withworms. It was 1090 mm TL, weighed 3.75 kg, and con-formed completely inmorphological and meristic featuresto S. albas; i.e., the belly was naked, the bases of the outerbarbels were situated 5 mm posterior to the bases of theinner barbels, and it had 37 dorsal rays and 25 anal rays.This freeze-dried specimen is also on display at WestarkCommunity College.Sturgeons are among the poorest known Arkansas fishesbecause of the difficulty of collecting in their big riverhabitat and the rarity in the state of two of the threespecies. The shovelnose sturgeon, S. platorynchus, currentlysupports a commercial fishery in the Mississippi and lowerWhite rivers and is not endangered or threatedned at thistime. However, we recommend that S. albus and A. ful-vescens be categorized as endangered in Arkansas becauseof their apparent rarity.Proceedings Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 47, 1993133Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 47 [1993], Art. 34Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 1993

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New Distributional Records for Arkansas Sturgeons

ScholarWorks@UARK

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of ScienceVolume 47 Article 341993New Distributional Records for ArkansasSturgeonsThomas M. BuchananUniversity of Arkansas at Fort SmithHenry W. RobisonSouthern Arkansas UniversityKen ShirleyArkansas Game and Fish 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 CitationBuchanan, Thomas M.; Robison, Henry W.; and Shirley, Ken (1993) "New Distributional Records for Arkansas Sturgeons," Journal ofthe Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 47 , Article 34.Available at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol47/iss1/34133New Distributional Records for Arkansas SurgeonsThomas M.Buchanan Henry W. RobisonDepartment of BiologyWestark Community CollegeFort Smith, AR72901Department of Biological SciencesSouthern Arkansas UniversityMagnolia, AR71753Ken ShirleyArkansas Game and Fish Commission, No. 2Natural Resources DriveLittle Rock, AR72205Of the three species of sturgeons known to occur inArkansas, only the shovelnose sturgeon, Scaphirhynchusplatorynchus (Rafinesque), is common in the state (Robisonand Buchanan, Fishes of Arkansas, Univ. Arkansas Press,Fayetteville, 1988). Prior to 1988 only three records forthe lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens Rafinesque, wereknown from Arkansas; two records were reported for thepallid sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus albus (Forbes andRichardson). The two S. albus records were based onreports from commercial fishermen who provided accu-rate descriptions of this species* but no vouchered speci-mens were available from the state. Robison andBuchanan (loc. cit) also included 5. albus in Arkansas'ichthyofauna because of valid records from the MississippiRiver ofMissouri and Louisiana.An increase in the sturgeon fishery of Arkansas in thelast few years has resulted inmore reports of a large whitesturgeon (6.8 kg or more) by commercial fishermen.These reports, which occur during the peak of the stur-geon spawning run from early March to mid April, comemainly from the Mississippi River and more rarely fromthe lower White River. We report the first voucheredrecord in Arkansas of 5. albus and twonew records for A.fulvescens. The two new records for A. fulvescens are thefirst from the White River. On 19 May 1989, a 1245 mmTL, 3.63 kg female A.fulvescens was caught by a commer-cial fisherman in the White River, Desha County. It wascaught ina trammel net fished in the eddy of the junctionof the two rivers. The specimen was freeze-dried and is ondisplay in the Westark Community College fish collection.On 29 April1992, one of us (K. S.) examined a live lakesturgeon at Prince's Fish Market inBrasfield, Arkansas. Itwas approximately 1524 mm TL(not measured), weighed21.34 kg, and was caught inlate March 1992 by Mr.A.D.Adcock in the White River at Devalls Bluff,PrairieCounty. This specimen was subsequently released into theWhite River.The first vouchered record of 5. albus for Arkansas wastaken in April 1988 (exact date not known) from theMississippi River at Mile 665 near Helena, Phillips County,by a commercial fisherman using a trotline baited withworms. It was 1090 mm TL, weighed 3.75 kg, and con-formed completely inmorphological and meristic featuresto S. albas; i.e., the belly was naked, the bases of the outerbarbels were situated 5 mm posterior to the bases of theinner barbels, and it had 37 dorsal rays and 25 anal rays.This freeze-dried specimen is also on display at WestarkCommunity College.Sturgeons are among the poorest known Arkansas fishesbecause of the difficulty of collecting in their big riverhabitat and the rarity in the state of two of the threespecies. The shovelnose sturgeon, S. platorynchus, currentlysupports a commercial fishery in the Mississippi and lowerWhite rivers and is not endangered or threatedned at thistime. However, we recommend that S. albus and A. ful-vescens be categorized as endangered in Arkansas becauseof their apparent rarity.Proceedings Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 47, 1993133Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 47 [1993], Art. 34Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 1993

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New Distributional Records for Arkansas Sturgeons

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