Virginia Master Naturalist Introduc on to Ichthyology
Paul Bugas Region 4 Aqua cs Manager Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
VDGIF Mission Statement • To conserve and manage wildlife populations and habitat for the benefit of present and future generations
• To connect people to Virginia’s outdoors through boating, education, fishing, hunting, trapping, wildlife viewing, and other wildlife- related activities
• To protect people and property by promoting safe outdoor experiences and managing human-wildlife conflicts “To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering” Aldo Leopold Biodiversity
Biodiversi ty Early Ichthyologists
Edward Drinker Cope (1840- 1897) Renown Paleontologist Wealthy Quaker Background Published 1,400 Papers
David Starr Jordan (1851 – 1931) President of Stanford University Espoused Eugenics
Edward C. Raney (1909 – 1952)
Ichthyology (from Greek: ἰχθύς, ikhthus, "fish"; and λόγος, logos, "study") Freshwater Fishes of Virginia
• Fish families • Families and their habitats • Major family representa ves • Species distribu on • Endemics
What is a Fish?
• Cold-blooded animal • Fins • Gills • Scales • Slime coat • Lateral line • Gas bladder • Osmoregula on Fish Senses • Taste – fish o en “spit out” unsavory food items; taste buds on barbels, top of head, in mouth, or on lips • Touch – fish o en “mouth” food items; lateral line is a sensory organ • Hearing – sound is picked up by bones in head; some fish have bones connected to air bladder; earstones or otoliths • Sight – can o en discern brightness and color; cannot see straight down or back • Smell – most have well developed sense of smell
(Social)
(Unknown) (Power)
(Steering & Braking)
(Stability)
(Anti-roll) Reasons for High Diversity of Fish Species in Virginia Climate and Physiography • high rainfall • geology and topography complex • unglaciated • historical and recent diversity of aquatic environment Biological • high speciation rates due to complex dispersal history
Pleistocene Epoch ended 12,000 years ago Drainage Basins in Virginia
Interior
Atlantic Slope Rivers of Virginia Virginia’s 10 Major Drainages
Potomac
York Big Sandy New James Rappahannock
Roanoke Chowan
Tennessee PeeDee Virginia’s 10 Major Drainages 30
25 x 1000) 2 20
15
10
5 Drainage Area (Km 0
New York James Chowan Roanoke Potomac Pee Dee Big Sandy Tennessee
Rappahannock Native Fish Species in Virginia’s Major Drainages 120 Natives Natives and Introduced
100
80
60
40
20
Number of Fish Species 0 Virginia’s Endemic Fish Species 16
12
8
4 Number of Fish Species
0
New James Roanoke Potomac Tennessee Physiographic Provinces in Virginia
Valley and Ridge
Appalachian Plateau
Blue Ridge Piedmont Coastal Plain Fish Taxonomy • Kingdom - Animalia
– Phylum – Chordata • possess a notochord at some point in development
• Class – Osteichthyes (Bony fishes) or Supraclass for jawless fish (Agnatha) such as lampreys – Order – Cypriniformes » Minnows and suckers – Order – Salmoniformes » Salmon and trout – Order Perciformes » Perch-like (two dorsal fins - separated) Virginia’s Freshwater Fish 25 Families
Petromyzontidae Umbridae Atherinidae Acipenseridae Cyprinidae Fundulidae Polyodontidae Catostomidae Poeciliidae Lepisosteidae Ictaluridae Cottidae Amiidae Salmonidae Moronidae Anguillidae Gaserosteidae Centrarchidae Clupeidae Aphredoderidae Percidae Esocidae Amblyopsidae Sciaenidae Channidae
227 Species 235 taxa Freshwater Fish Families in Virginia Number of Fish Species by State
> 220 188 153 188 200-219 201 220 180-199 257 150-179 200 257 219 100-149 < 100 Mountain Trout Streams Trout
Sculpin Large Streams Minnow
Perch
Sucker Large Rivers Catfish
Muskellunge Paddlefish Swamps Sunfish
Pirate Perch
Swampfish Lampreys
Atlantic sturgeon Longnose gar
James River Percidae Watershed Minnows
• 2,000+ species – largest fish family • Largest in VA – Common carp • 320 in North America • Jaws lack teeth • Only found in freshwater • Major component of the food web
Minnows (Chubs)
Bluehead Chub Bigmouth Chub
River Chub Bull Chub
Perch
• 235 species worldwide • Teeth on jaw • 217 in North America • Two dorsal fins • Darters comprise 214 members • High economic and ecological • All but one darter species occurs importance east of the continental divide Candy darter
Credit: Derek Wheaton Perch (Logperch)
Roanoke Logperch
Blotchside Logperch
Logperch Moronidae
White Bass
Striped Bass
Hybrid Striped Bass
White Perch James River Drainage Endemics
Derek Wheaton Roughhead Shiner
Longfin Darter Threats to Freshwater Fish
• Dams and their associated operations • Exotic Species • Loss of habitat
Diadromous Fishes
• Anadromous Fish - Fish that spend their adult life in the ocean (salt water) and migrate up coastal rivers to spawn in fresh-water.
• American Eels are Virginia’s Catadromous species, which spend their adult life in fresh-water and migrate to the ocean to spawn.
• These species need habitat conservation from mountain streams to the ocean. Exotic Species Introductions Zebra Mussels Wooly Adelgid - Exotic Invasive • An exotic insect that is destroying our native Hemlock trees along streams.
• How could the loss of these Hemlocks effect the stream ecosystem? Health Issues with Smallmouth Bass ECOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS
FRAGMENTATION AND EDGE EFFECT As the human population continues to grow, development reduces and fragments remaining undisturbed habitat.
Point Source Pollution Non-Point Source Pollution Channelization Urban Impacts Erosion
Nutrification
Unrestricted Cattle Strategies for Aquatic Habitat Improvement Wetlands Protection
• Filter out nutrients and pollutants
• Flood control
• Groundwater recharge areas
• Habitat for rare and endangered species
Healthy Riparian Area
• Filter runoff removing excess nutrients and sediments. • Helps stabilize the stream banks from erosion. • Provides shade to the stream to reduce water temperature. • Increases fish and aquatic habitat quality and quantity. • Provides food and “energy to aquatic organisms (leaf litter).
Fencing and Riparian Buffer Restoration
Strategies for Aquatic Habitat Improvement Before
Rural Stream Restoration
During
After Before Urban Stream Restoration
During
After Dump & Sinkhole Clean-ups Electrofishing Trap Nets Hatcheries & Fish Stocking Creel Surveys Gill nets
“In the end, we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.”
- Buba Dioum
Credit: Lance Merry Books Ø Freshwater Fishes of Virginia Ø Robert E. Jenkins and Noel M. Burkhead Ø Available from http://www.afsbooks.org/ - $110
Ø Fish Watching: An Outdoor Guide to Freshwater Fishes Ø C. Lavett Smith Ø Amazon.com - $27
Ø Freshwater Fishes of the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware Ø Fred C. Rohde, Rudolf G. Arndt, David G. Lindquist, and James F. Parnell Ø Amazon.com - $7 to $25
http://web1.cnre.vt.edu/efish/