of the Upper , Otsego County, NY

R. Katz1

INTRODUCTION

While yearly water quality monitoring occurs on the upper stretches of the Susquehanna River, an analysis of the fish assemblages at various sampling sites has never been conducted by the Biological Field Station. The habitats surveyed by water quality monitoring range from shallow, rocky, fast-moving reaches to slow, muddy waters. There is a wide range of environments represented by a comparatively short stretch of river, providing shelter for a diversity of fish species.

METHODS & MATERIALS

Between the hours of 9AM and 12PM on 7 and 8 August, 2012, three sites along the Susquehanna River were surveyed (Figure 1). The sites chosen were pulled from the water quality monitoring site map (Katz 2013), with sites SR6a, SR8, and SR17 being surveyed. A HalTech® electro-fishing probe was used to stun and capture fish, which were identified and measured on the riverbank and were either returned to the river or collected in a cooler and brought back to the laboratories for parasite analysis or preservation, depending on the species and availability.

Figure 1. The three sites surveyed for fish in the upper Susquehanna River.

1 F.H.V. Mecklenburg Conservation Fellow, summer 2012. Present affiliation: SUNY Oswego. RESULTS & DISCUSSION

A total of 285 fish were collected during the survey. The majority of fish captured came from SR17 (n=142), just below the closed bridge on Phoenix Mills Road. Site SR6a, below the dam at the hospital, yielded the second-highest number of fish, with 98 individuals captured. Forty five fish were collected at SR8, under the bridge on Susquehanna Avenue. The most numerous species captured was the longnose dace (Rhinichthys cataractae), although this species was only recorded at SR17. One unexpected specimen was collected from SR6a: a burbot (Lota lota), a species which has historically been collected in Otsego and occasionally is seen locally in some streams (Smith 1985, Pokorny 2013). A list summarizing species collected is given in Table 1; Table 2 provides quantitative information from fish collected at each site.

Table 1. Species observed during the 7-8 August survey of the Upper Susquehanna River, summer 2012.

Family and Scientific name Common name spiloptera spotfin shiner Exoglossum maxillingua cutlips minnow Hybognathus hankinsoni brassy minnow Luxilus cornutus common shiner Nocomis micropogon river chub Notropis hudsonius spottail shiner Notropis rubellus rosyface shiner Rhinichthys atratulus blacknose dace Rhinichthys cataractae longnose dace Semotilus atromaculatus creek chub Catostomidae Catostomus commersoni white sucker Hypentelium nigricans northern hog sucker Ictaluridae Ameiurus nebulosus brown bullhead Noturus insignis margined madtom Lotidae Lota lota burbot Ambloplites rupestris Lepomis gibbosus pumpkinseed Lepomis macrochirus Micropterus dolomieu smallmouth bass Micropterus salmoides largemouth bass Percidae Etheostoma olmstedi tessellated darter Perca flavescens

Table 2. Number of individual fish, with corresponding sites, collected on the Susquehanna River, summer 2012.

Common name SR6a SR8 SR17 Spotfin shiner Ø Ø 1 Cutlips minnow 10 14 9 Brassy minnow Ø Ø 13 Common shiner Ø Ø 19 River chub Ø 1 Ø Spottail shiner 1 Ø 27 Rosyface shiner Ø 8 Ø Blacknose dace Ø Ø 2 Longnose dace Ø Ø 53 Creek chub 8 8 2 White sucker Ø 2 Ø Northern hog sucker 1 Ø Ø Brown bullhead 6 Ø Ø Margined madtom Ø Ø 15 Burbot 1 Ø Ø Rock bass 25 2 Ø Pumpkinseed 17 Ø Ø Bluegill 1 Ø Ø Smallmouth bass 2 Ø Ø Largemouth bass 19 6 Ø Tessellated darter 7 3 10 Yellow perch Ø 1 Ø Total 98 45 142

CONCLUSION

The goal of this study was to create a baseline survey of fish species found in the upper Susquehanna River. Although only a few sites were analyzed, future surveys of the water quality monitoring sites should reveal more species. Species encountered in the river, for the most part, are also represented in Lake Otsego, which does not come as a surprise. Among the species identified, all but two are also known to inhabit the lake (Macwatters 1983). In accordance with previous studies done on the watershed’s fish fauna, dace and chub were among the most common fish collected (Foster 1995). Other species in the watershed, including various species of trout and pickerel, were absent from the sites surveyed. However, some species thought to be less common in the rest of the watershed proved to be more common in the river; various shiners and minnows not commonly found in the lake were abundant in the Susquehanna. If future surveys are conducted on the upper Susquehanna, it may be necessary to alter some of the sample sites – difficult access, poor visibility, and depth in some sites may ultimately prohibit electro-fishing attempts.

REFERENCES

Katz, R. 2013. Monitoring water quality and fecal coliform bacteria in the Upper Susquehanna River, summer 2012. In 45th Ann. Rept. (2012). SUNY Oneonta Biol. Fld. Sta., SUNY Oneonta.

Foster, J. R. 1995. The Fish Fauna of the Otsego Lake Watershed, 1995. In 28th Ann. Rept. (1995). SUNY Oneonta Biol. Fld. Sta., SUNY Oneonta.

Macwatters, R. C. 1983. The of Otsego Lake, 1983. Occ. Paper No. 15 (1983). SUNY Oneonta Biol. Fld. Sta., SUNY Oneonta.

Pokorny, T. 2013. Personal communication. Cooperstown, NY.

Smith, L.C. 1985. The inland fishes of State. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.