Fish Communities in the Tivoli Bays HRNERR Component Site

Home , Banded killifish, Fallfish, Smallmouth bass

Robert Schmidt, Bard College at Simon's Rock March 11, 2020 Research in the Reserve

1 Number of Fishes Documented from the Hudson River Watershed 230

2 Studies in the Tivoli Bays Ten years of data, 2001‐2010 Funded by HRNERR Paid two undergraduate students per year All sampling was quantitative (to some degree) Data are available (HRNERR or myself)

3 Tivoli North Bay

4 TNB, Fishes Collected in 20 ft Seine 36 Species, 3850 Individuals  American eel 8  Brown bullhead 14  Blueback herring 320  Banded killifish 180  Alewife 62  Mummichog 184  American shad 26  Fourspine stickleback 7  Atlantic menhaden 4  Brook silverside 2  Gizzard shad 4  White perch 804  Spotfin shiner 1  Striped bass 116  Carp 1  Rock bass 13  Silvery minnow 2  Redbreast sunfish 200  Common shiner 2  Pumpkinseed 234  Golden shiner 116  Bluegill 55  Emerald shiner 4  Unidentified sunfish 20  Spottail shiner 1036  Smallmouth bass 20  Creek chub 1  Largemouth bass 89  Fallfish 1  Black crappie 4  White sucker 41  Tessellated darter 173  Redfin pickerel 3  Yellow perch 17  Yellow bullhead 1  Hogchoker 5

5 Tivoli South Bay

6 TNB, Fishes Collected in 10 ft Seine 25 Species, 813 Individuals  American eel 6  White perch 55  Blueback herring 19  Striped bass 6  Alewife 2  Rock bass 1  American shad 1  Redbreast sunfish 53  Golden shiner 9  Pumpkinseed 36  Spottail shiner 226  Bluegill 37  White sucker 23  Unidentified sunfish 1  Brown bullhead 2  Smallmouth bass 4  Banded killifish 105  Largemouth bass 25  Mummichog 52  Tessellated darter 100  Fourspine stickleback 45  Yellow perch 1  Brook silverside 1  Hogchoker 5  Atlantic needlefish 1

7 Distribution of Individuals Among Species TNB 20 ft Seine TNB 10 ft Seine

1200 250

1000 200

800 150 600 100 400

200 50

0 0 1357911131517192123252729313335 12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

8 Seining Summary

Most individuals collected were juveniles or young‐ of‐year (all fish measured, not showing you those data)

Tidal marshes are significant nurseries for some Hudson River fishes

Note presence of herrings, spottail shiners, sunfishes

9 Used Pop Net in Trapa Beds

Bottom frame heavily weighted, top frame buoyant Set at low tide, trip at medium incoming tide Top and bottom frames held with U‐bolts Tie string to U‐bolts and trip from a distance Once popped, remove Trapa, seine out fishes

10 Fishes Collected in Tivoli South Bay 22 Species, 1704 Individuals TSB, Seines TSB, Pop Net in Trapa

 Alewife 1 Fourspine stickleback 1  Goldfish 378  American shad 17 White perch 294  Carp 43  Goldfish 17 Striped bass 23  Golden shiner 12  Carp 17 Pumpkinseed 1  Golden shiner 23 Bluegill 1  Spottail shiner 1  Spottail shiner 114 Smallmouth bass 2  Brown bullhead 10  Fallfish 1 Largemouth bass 1  Fourspine stickleback 46  White sucker 21 Tessellated darter 5  Banded killifish 78  Brown bullhead 2 Yellow perch 1  Banded killifish 285 Hogchoiker 1  White perch 2  Mummichog 287  Largemouth bass 3  Pumpkinseed 2  Redbreast sunfish 1  Tessellated darter 10

11 Example of Changes in Species Composition in TNB

Species 2001 2009

Herrings 4.8 %0

Spottail Shiner 71.2 %15.4 %

Sunfishes 2.7 %54.0 %

12 Results of Single‐Pass Electrofishing, Total for 9 Years

Saw Kill Stony Creek

 American eel 940  American eel 773  Cutlip minnow 9   Creek chub 1 Cutlip minnow 1  Fallfish 24  Fallfish 3  Blacknose dace 96  Blacknose dace 7  White sucker 8  Brown bullhead 2  Northern hogsucker 1   Yellow bullhead 3 Brown trout 6  Brown bullhead 44  Banded killifish 2  Banded killifish 5  Mummichog 4  Mummichog 4  Rock bass 2  Striped bass 2   Rock bass 38 Smallmouth bass 2  Redbreast sunfish 8  Tessellated darter 8  Pumpkinseed 4  Logperch 1  Bluegill 26  Smallmouth bass 22  Largemouth bass 8  Tessellated darter 113 13 Spring Gill‐Net Collections in the Saw Kill and Stony Creek

Migratory Fishes‐ Spawn only in Tributaries White sucker, Smallmouth bass Migratory Fishes‐ Spawn in Tributaries and Elsewhere Alewife, Blueback herring, White perch, Yellow perch, Golden shiner, Carp Miscellaneous Fishes‐ Largemouth bass, Fallfish, Brown bullhead, Redbreast sunfish, Gizzard shad, Goldfish, Northern hogsucker, Channel catfish, Northern pike, Striped bass, Pumpkinseed

14 Drift Nets Conical fine mesh nets (330 um), rectangular opening Anchor to stream bottom, opening facing upstream Sampling must be at night (that’s when fish larvae drift) Nets set for 20 minutes Too short, will not catch many fishes Too long, will catch way too much detritus Preserve samples onsite Spend a lot of time sorting fish from detritus Quantifiable

15 Early Life Stages Collected in Drift Nets

 American eel‐ Juvenile (glass eels)  Alewife‐ Eggs, Yolk‐sac larvae  Spottail shiner‐ Yolk‐sac and Post yolk‐sac larvae  Fallfish‐ Yolk‐sac larvae  Blacknose dace‐ Yolk‐sac and Post yolk‐sac larvae  White sucker‐ Eggs through Juveniles  Fourspine stickleback‐ Adult (one)  Smallmouth bass‐ Post yolk‐sac larvae and Juveniles  White perch‐ Eggs and Yolk‐sac larvae  Tessellated darter‐ Eggs through Post yolk‐sac larvae  Yellow perch‐ Yolk‐sac larvae

16 Advantages of Drift Net Sampling Instead of catching adults, drift net samples tell us who is actually spawning in a stream (also when and how many).

Drift net data showed that Spottail shiner and Tessellated darter are migratory (too small to catch in gill nets). 17 Tivoli Bays Fish Community Sampling ended in 2010.

Has not been sampled since.

What is community like now?

18 Migratory Fishes in the Tributaries For White sucker and Smallmouth bass, access to tributaries essential to maintain populations.

For those species that spawn in the tributaries and elsewhere: How significant is tributary spawning to total spawning in the Hudson River?

There is no literature on migratory behavior of Tessellated darter. Really interesting study here.

19 What are any of these areas going to look like once this guy shows up?