55 A NEW LOCALITY RECORD FOR THE BLUE SUCKER, ELONGATUS (LE SUEUR) IN OKLAHOMA

J. Clifford Randolph and Hague L. Lindsay

us Army Engineer District. Tulsa. and Department of Life Sciences. University of Tulsa. Tulsa. Oklahoma

The blue sucker is placed in a monotypic verified by Dr. J. D. Reeves of North­ genus, quite distinctive from other suckers eastern State University, Tahlequah, Okla­ in North America. ItS distinctive features homa. The exact collection site is uncertain include itS long slender body, very long and the specimen was not preserved. Mr. with about 30 soft rays, small Gomez explained· that Kim Erickson, also head, and coarse papillae on its lips. of the ODWC, collected a single specimen of C. elo"gillus in 1973 while doing striped Moore defined the distribution of the bass research in the Webbers Falls area. blue sucker, Cydeplus eionglllus, in the This specimen was released. book by Blair, et al (I) to be large streams and artificial impoundments from the Pearl Jim Smith, with the ODWC, netted three and Mississippi Rivers to the Rio Grande. blue suckers near the mouth of the Illinois In his book on the Fishes of , River while conducting a study of the Brown (2 ) described the natural distri· Illinois River trout fishery in June, 1972. bution of the blue sucker to be the Missouri­ Length and weight measurementS were System from Montana taken for two of these specimens. One specie east to and Pennsylvania and men was 66.8 cm in length Rnd weighed south to the Gulf of Mexico. 2352 g; the other specimen was 63.7 cm in length and weighed 1700 g. In Oklahoma, C. eJongalus until very recently had been reported in the literature Moore (7). in his publication pertaining from only Lake Texoma and Grand Lake to the fish fauna of Oklahoma, reviewed and the tailwaters of these reservoirs. It was collection records for the Poteau River first reported in 1950 by Moore and Cross System dating back to the early 1850's, but (3) from Lake Texoma, Love County, Okla­ he reported no records for the blue sucker homa. In 1959, Riggs and Bonn (4) reo in the Poteau watershed. In 1947, Cross and ported Cydeptus to be rare in Lake Texoma Moore (8) conducted a watershed survey but slightly more common in the tailwaters. of the Poteau River but found no Cyclepltls. Robinson, et al (5) reported that a young Other fishery investigations of Wister Lake, CycJeplus was collected by Gordon Hall its tributaries and stilling basin began in from Grand Lake, Delaware County, Okla­ 1949 and continued through 1951. These homa. Mr. Hall explained that this was a investigations included those of G. E. Hall 5 cm juvenile taken in the early 1950'5. and W. C. Latta (9, 10, 11), but C. elonga­ That was the first and presently the only Ius was not collected. report of young Cycleplus being collected The Poteau River and its tributaries drain in the state. Dr. John H. Carroll collected an area which includes the mountainous a single large specimen of CycJeplus in 1969 areas of eastern Oklahoma and western from the Red River south of Valliant, Okla­ Arkansas. The Poteau River is about 222 homa. Recently, Pigg aDd Hill (6) reported km long and draim an area of about 4889 collecting large numbers (about 40) of sq km. It enters the Arkansas River at river this sucker in gill netS below Hugo Dam. mile 303 on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas This was the first known record of the blue River Navigation Channel near the town of sucker from the Kiamichi River watershed. Ft. Smith, Arkansas. Ricardo Gomez of the Oklahoma Depart. Wister Lake was comtructed on the ment of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) Poteau River at river mile 60.9 about 32 has stated that in 1968 a commercial fisher· km south of Wister, Oklahoma, in 1949. man collected a specimen of CyeJepltls from In 1971, Lock and Dam No. 13, part of the the Grand River System. This specimen was navigation system, became operational. This Pr«. Okla. Acad. Sci. 55: 55·56 (975) 56

tcl'UCCWe is located apprmimately 24 IuD This specimen, measuring 41.9 an, repre­ dowallram from me mouth of the Poteau sents the only known record 01 C,d~fJllU River aad made approsimately 16 IuD of from the Poceau River System and tends to the Poteau River navigable. What chan., fill in the gap between specimens from the in fish dilrribution thit COdIfrucrioo hal Red River System to the south and the made are nor well known. Grand River in the north. The blue sucker is now believed to be more widespread in Recently, the Tulsa District, Corps 01 Oklahoma than previously thought but reo Enginee.... .pomored an environmental mains an elusive . •cudy of Wister Lake including the Poteau River and its tributaries. Determinations of water quality parameters and inventories of aquatic and terreatrial plant and anUnaI communities were made. During this study, REFERENCES in AuJUlt, 1974. Dr. Hague Lindsay of the Univenity of Tulia and twO of his graduate 1. W. f. BLAI., A. P. BLAI., P. B.ODl[0.8, F. R. CAGLE. and G. A. Moou, Yerle­ studentS, .nd Corps biologists sampled a /willes of Ihe U"ileJ SIllies. McGraw·HiII portion of the Poteau River downstream Book Co~ New York, 1968. from Winer Lake. The area included a 5 2. C. ]. D. BlOWN, Fishes of Mo"'4fJ