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Virginia Master Naturalists Introduction to Ichthyology

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!"#$"%"&'(&)*+#',&*-#&.")*) /%*#01-2*"0%'*0'/23*340.0$4' 5&-.'6-$&)' 7+$"0%'8'9:-&*"2)'(&%&$+#' 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 6"01";+#)"*4' Biodiversi ty <&#.4'/23*340.0$")*)' Edward Drinker Cope (1840- 1897) Renown Paleontologist Wealthy Quaker Background Published 1,400 Papers David Starr Jordan (1851 – 1931) President of Stanford University Espoused Eugenics Edward C. Raney (1909 – 1952) Ichthyology (from Greek: !"#$%, ikhthus, "fish"; and &'()%, logos, "study") Freshwater Fishes of Virginia • Fish families • Families and their habitats • Major family representatives • Species distribution • Endemics What is a Fish? • Cold-blooded animal • Fins • Gills • Scales • Mucoprotein coat • Lateral line • Gas bladder • Osmoregulation Fish Senses • Taste – fish often “spit out” unsavory food items; taste buds on barbels, top of head, in mouth, or on lips • Touch – fish often “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 often 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 • diversity of aquatic environment Pleistocene Epoch ended 12,000 years ago Major Watersheds in VA Physiographic Provinces of VA Drainage Basins in Virginia Interior Atlantic Slope Rivers of Virginia 2 x 1000) 30 Virginia’s 10 Major Drainages 25 Drainage Area (Km 20 15 10 5 0 James Roanoke Potomac Chowan Tennessee New Rappahannock York Big Sandy Pee Dee 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 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 Lamprey Mudminnows Silversides Sturgeon Minnows Topminnows Paddlefish Suckers Livebearers Gar Catfish Sculpin Bowfin Trout Temp. Bass Eel Stickleback Sunfish Herrings Pirate Perch Perch Pike Cavefish Drum Snakehead 226 Species 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 Rural Pollution 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 !!Freshwater Fishes of Virginia !!Robert E. Jenkins and Noel M. Burkhead !!www.fisheries.org/bookstore - $110 !!Fish Watching: An Outdoor Guide to Freshwater Fishes !!C. Lavett Smith !!Amazon.com - $27 !!Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of Virginia !! Mike Pinder, Don Orth, Val Kells, Corbin Hilling, Derek Wheaton, Paul Bugas !!Available in September, 2019 from Virginia Chapter American Fisheries Society https://efish.fishwild.vt.edu/ .
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