Aki

FIRST RECORD OF THE CYPRESS MINNOW ( HAY! JORDAN) IN

ROBERT J. KEMP, JR. Texas Game and Fish Commission and CLARK HUBBS The University of Texas

Hybognathus hayi, the cypress minnow, was described by Jordan (1884). He based the description on specimens collected from Memphis, Tennessee, and from Vicksburg, Edwards, Vaughans, Grenada, and the Pearl River at Jackson, Mississippi, by 0. P. Hay. Subsequently, this species has been recorded only from the Tennessee River system by Kuhne (1939) and in the standard compilations such as Jordan and Evermann (1896). (The records listed in Ortenburger and Hubbs, 1926: 132, were reidentified as Hybognathus nuchalis ( Agassiz) by Hubbs and Ortenburger, 1929: 91.) Despite this lack of published record, Hybognathus hayi has been collected frequently from the lowlands along the in ( John D. Black, personal communication, 1953) and (Royal D. Suttkus, personal communication, 1953). Neither Jurgens and Hubbs (1953) nor Knapp (1953) record the cypress minnow from Texas. Moore (1952) did not record it from Oklahoma, although the following records are from three northeastern Texas counties, one of which, Bowie, has a common boundary with Oklahoma. Four records for Hybognathus hayi are now available from Red River tributaries in Harrison and Marion counties in northeast Texas, as a result of collections by the senior author. These are: (1) Caddo Lake, Harrison County, September 9, 1950; (2) Black Cypress Bayou, 3 miles northeast of Jefferson, July 13, 1953; (3) same locality, September 18, 1953; and (4) Black Cypress Bayou, 1.5 miles north of Jefferson, September 18, 1953. George A. Moore (personal communication, 1953) reports one additional specimen from Barkman's Creek, 5 miles north of Wamba, Bowie County, Texas. The cypress minnow appears to prefer quiet water over soft bottom. The largest sample (3) is from a roadside ditch directly connected to Black Cypress Bayou. John D. Black (personal communication, 1953) stated that he found this fish most common in similar habitats during his fish survey of Arkansas. The absence of H. hayi in many other collections from flowing water in the same regions indicates that it is nearly limited to quiet water.

LITERATURE CITED

HUBBS, CARL L., and A. I. ORTENBURGER-1929—Fishes collected in Oklahoma and. and Arkansas in 1927. Pub. Univ. Oklahoma Biol. Surv. 1: 45-112, pls. 6-13. JORDAN, DAVID STAFtR-1885—Description of a new species of Hybognathus ( Hybo- gnathus hayi) from Mississippi. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 7:548-550.

113 114 1954, No. 1 THE TEXAS JOURNAL OF SCIENCE March

JORDAN, DAVID STARR, and BARTON W. EvERmANN-1896—The fishes of North and Middle America. Bull. U. S. Nat. Mw. 47, pt. 1:v-lx,1-1240. JURGENS, KENNETH C., and CLARK Hums-1953—A checklist of Texas fresh-water fishes. Texas Game and Fish 11 (4): 12-15. KNAPP, FRANK T.-1953—Fishes found in fresh waters of Texas. Ragland Studio and Lithio Printing Co., Brunswick, Georgia: iii-vii + 1-166. KUHNE, EUGENE R.-1939-4 guide to the fishes of Tennessee and the mid-south. Tennessee Dept. of Cons.: 1-124. MOORE, GEORGE A.-1952—Fishes of Oklahoma. Oklahoma State Game and Fish Dept.: 12 pp. ORTENBURGER, A. I., and CARL L. Hums-1926—A report on the fishes of Olda- home, with descriptions of new genera and species. Proc. Oklahoma Acad. Sci. 6: 123-141.

Reprinted From THE TEXAS JOURNAL OF SCIENCE Volume VI, No. 1, March, 1954