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The Fishes of the Tidewater Section of the Pamunkey River, Virginia" (1953)

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The Fishes of the Tidewater Section of the Pamunkey River, Virginia View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by College of William & Mary: W&M Publish W&M ScholarWorks VIMS Articles 1953 The fishes of the tidewater section of the amunkP ey River, Virginia Edward C. Raney William H. Massman Virginia Fisheries Laboratory Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/vimsarticles Part of the Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons, and the Marine Biology Commons Recommended Citation Raney, Edward C. and Massman, William H., "The fishes of the tidewater section of the Pamunkey River, Virginia" (1953). VIMS Articles. 1767. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/vimsarticles/1767 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in VIMS Articles by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Reprinted from JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Volume 43, No. 12, December, 1953 Printed in U.S.A. ICHTHYOLOGY.-The fishes of the tidewater section of the Pamunkey River, Virginia. EDWARD C. RANEY and WILLIAM II. MASSMANN, Cornell University and Virginia Fisheries Laboratory.1 The distribution of the fish fauna of the A minnow seine, 20 feet long and 4 feet in tidewater section of most of the rivers that depth, was used in all but six collections flow into Chesapeake Bay is poorly known. when a net 75 by 6 feet was employed. All Indeed, this is true for practically all the seines had a bar mesh size of ~ inch. The great rivers tributary to the Atlantic from collections included 113 samples taken by the Hudson southward to the Savannah. minnow seine, 15 by surface trawl, 6 by The few investigations usually have con­ rotenone, 4 by bottom trawl, and a series centrated on commercial species and our of plankton net collections which often understanding of distribution has been contained small fishes. Continuous observa­ inferred from the knowledge of nearby tions were made on the commercial and sport Coastal Plain streams reported in such fisheries. Many of the collections were sent studies as those by Hildebrand and Schroe­ to the senior author, who is responsible for der (1928), Fowler (1945), Raney (1950), the identification 'of all but the clupeid and Massmann, Ladd, McCutcheon (1952). fishes. A total of 59 species were taken in In 1949 the junior author began a study the Coastal Plain region of the Pamunkey of the spawning and early life history of River and its tributaries; 52 were limited to shad in the Pamunkey and other nearby the tidewater section. Virginia rivers and collected witli seines at numerous locations in the tidal area. After DESCRIPTION OF THE LOWER exploratory seining, many of the stations PAMUNKEY RIVER were visited at almost weekly intervals The Pamunkey River (Fig. 1) originates during the period June 28 to September 29, on the Piedmont plateau at the confluence 1949. Since that time additional collections of the North and South Anna Rivers, 5 miles have been made at established stations on northeast of Ashland, Va., and empties into the Pamunkey indicated on the map (Fig. 1). the York River at West Point. The tidal region extends about 42 nautical miles up­ stream to the vicinity of Bassett Bar. At 1 Contribution from the . Virginia .Fisheries Laboratory. }lo. 48. West Point, salinities ranging from O to DECEMBER 1953 RANEY AND MASSMANN: PAMUNKEY IUVER FISHES 425 12.6 parts per thousand have been recorded; beaches are present in this section. Area II· the river generally becomes fresh between is centered near Lester Manor. Here the West Point and Romancoke at a point 8 river generally is wider, and is fed by many miles upstream. 'fhe precise boundary be­ marsh creeks. Shoal areas, less than 5 feet tween fresh and brackish water varies with in depth, are extensive, and numerous coves river runoff, wind, arid tide, as does the are present. The shoreline is mostly wooded. head of the tide itself. The tidal range About a dozen sand and/or gravel beaches averages about 3 feet; Turbidities, as meas­ suitable for seining are present. Area III ured with a Secchi disk, range from 27 to has an average depth of 12 feet, and few 61 cm; the upper sections of the river are shoal areas, which are located in the mouths generally clearer than the lower reaches. of tributary creeks. The muddy banks are Submergent vegetation, of which the pre­ rather steep and only about six small sand dominant form is Nitella, although sparse and/or gravel beaches are suited to seining. in the river, is found in abundance in a few The shoreline is generally forested. protected coves. The tidal portion of the river may be FISHERIES OF THE PAMUNKEY RIVER divided into three rather homogeneous The American shad and catfishes (Icta­ physiographic areas each approximately lurus) are the major species of commercial 15 miles in length. Area I (Fig. 1) is char­ importance on the Pamunkey River. Shad acterized by a wide channel which is from are caught during the spawning run in 20 to 60 feet deep and rather steep mud spring, mainly with drift gill nets, although banks. It is surrounded by extensive tidal a few set or stake gill nets are fished at marshes. Eight small gravel and/or sand West Point. In depth the drift nets may be PAMUNKEV RIVER Nautical Miles , , , , 1 0 I Z 5 AREA ill AREA II / / / / AREA I Frn.1.-The tidewater section of the Pamunkey River between its mouth at West Point and Bassett Bar a point approximately 42 nautical miles upstream, showing localities mentioned in text 426 JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES VOL. L13, NO. 12 as much as 25 feet, depending on the water TABLE 1.-Phylogenetically arranged liat of the Coastal Plain fishes of the Pamunkey River system. Areas I, II, and III depths being fished; in length they vary are from the tidewater section of the lower Pamunkey River from one-quarter to one-half the width of as shown in Fig. I. Area IV represents collections from the channel. In area I, striped bass are. often tributaries to the tidewater section and the upstream Pa­ munkey River from Dassctt Bar to the Fall Line. Species taken in shad nets. The alewife, glut herring, marked by an asterisk were also. collected in the Piedmont and hickory shad are also captured but region of the Pamunkey River system. Type of record: . X-collected, 0-obsBrved, R-reliably reported by fisher­ generally, because of their smaller size, these men. fishes escape through the meshes of shad nets. A few small hoop fyke nets are fished Area Species in area I and their catch includes white I II III IV perch, glut herring, alewife, and catfishes. In the vicinity of Lester Manor, a single haul J>etrornyzon marinu.s ...............•. R Acivenser oxyrhynchus ........ ...... 0 seine operates and takes white perch, carr,, Lepisosteu.s o. osseus . ....... : ....... X X striped bass, gizzard shad, and redhorse .1luiia calva ......................... X X Al<na mldiocris ..................... X X sucker. Catfishes are generally taken in cat­ Alosa aestivali:1 ..................... X X X fish pots although two fishermen still use Alosa pseudolwrengus ............... X X X the more primitive trot lines. With the ex­ Alosa savidissima .......... , ........ X X X Brevoortia tyrannus . ................ X X ception of catfish pots, White House is the Dorosoma cevedianum .............. X X upper limit of commercial fishing on the Anchoa m. mitchilli ................. X X Pamunkey, since the river beyond that Erimyzon o. oblongus• .. , . .......... X Moxostoma macrolevidotum• ........ X X X point is not suited to the use of commercial Cyvrinus carvio .. .................. 0 nets. Semotilus corvoralis • ............... X X X Semotilus a. atromaculatus• .. ..... , . X To obtain small quantities of fish for local llybovsis levtocevhalus• ............. X consumption herring drift nets and set gill Notemigonus c. crysoleucas .......... X X X X nets are sometimes used. Extensive angling N otrovis amoenus ... ................ X Notrovis hudsonius saludanus ....... , X X X X is not carried on, but striped bass, large­ Notrovis analostanus• ............... X X X X mouth bass, catfishes, white perch, yellow llybognathus nuchali• regius .... .... X X X X perch and sunfishes arc taken. Ictalurus catus., .................... X X X X Ictalurus p. punclatus .............. X X X Ameiurus natalis erebennus ......... X X X ANNOTATED LIST OF FISHES Ameiurus n. nebulosus• ...... ...... X X Schilbeodes mollis . .................. X X X The following annotated list includes Schilbeodes m. marginatus• ......... X X Umbra pyymaea . ................... X only those fishes taken in the tidewater Esox niaer• ......................... X X X section. Their distribution in the several Esox americanus• ... ................ X X 1. Ang1'illa rostrata• ................... X X X X areas of the river is given in Table The Pundu!"·' hcteroclitus macrolepidotus X X X number appearing at the end of each species Pundulus d. diaphanus ........ , .... X X X X account represents the percentage frequency Gambu.,ia affinia ~olbrooki, .......... X X X X Apl,redoderu• s. sayanus• .. ......... X of occurrence in seine hauls. (See also Strongylura marina .......... , ...... X X Table 2.) Roccus saxatilia., .. , ......... , ...... X X X X M orone americana . .................. X X X X PETROMYZONTIDAE Perea flavescens . .................... X X X X Etheoatoma nigrum olmstedi ........ X X X X Petromyzon marinus Linnaeus: Sea Lamprey Micropterus •· salmoidea ............ X X X X Although no sea lamprey was caught or ob­ Ltpomis gibboaus• ...... , .. .......... X X X X Lepomi• m. macrochirus• ........ .... X X X X served during the survey, it has been seen in the Lepomis auritus• ........ .......... , .. X X X X adjacent Chickahominy and Rappahannock Centrarchus macropterus . ............ X Pomoxis nigromaculatus ........... .. X X X X Rivers. Local fishermen reported its capture in Enneacanthu, gloriosus .............. X X X X past years when nets of smaller mesh were com­ Enneacanthus obesus ...
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