WDFW – WA State Status Report - The margined sculpin ( marginatus) is physically distinguishable from the paiute sculpin (Cottus beldingi), the only other similar sculpin species within its range, by medial chin pores and anal fin rays. The margined sculpin has one chin pore and 14 to 17 anal rays while the paiute sculpin has two chin pores and 11 to 14 anal rays.

ODFW – records of Reticulate, Prickly, and Piute sculpin in the Umatilla and Walla Walla basins.

Paul Shearer = Distribution limited to Walla Walla and Umatilla Basins. Common where it occurs.

Doug Markle – of OR = they are in there.

Inland Fishes of WA = Found in pools and slow-moving glides in headwater tributaries. Adults found in deeper and faster water than juveniles. Found in habitats with small gravel and silt substrates. Umatilla and Walla Walla Basins – based on personal observation from District Biologist, no known samples. Dots on the map are from OSU museum specimens

McPhail and Lindsey 1986 – The margined sculpin is the only fish endemic to the mid- basin.

What about the Umatilla Dace?

Carlin et al 2012 WDFW – State Candidate Species - Knowledge about sculpins in is limited. However, based on available information it is know that margined sculpin are confined to an extremely small range worldwide and in Washington. Also, much of the stream habitat it dwells in is degraded with an uncertain future. Because of its small range and degraded habitat conditions it is vulnerable and likely to become threatened or endangered in a significant portion of its range without cooperative management.

ODFW = Sensitive Species USFWS = Species of Concern

Carlin et al 2012 ‘Margined Sculpin have been recorded from four river drainages.’

1. Walla Walla 2. Touchet 3. Tucannon 4. Umatilla

- These drainages experience substantial agriculture pressure in lowlands, logging activities at higher elevations, and drainage- wide recreation and pollution.

Carlin et al 2012 Methods This study was done as part of a summer survey for salmonids

• Sampled 57 sites in the Walla Walla sub-basin • June – August 2005 and 2006 • Backpack Electrofishing • CPUE • Mitochondrial DNA

Carlin et al 2012 Identification 1. Field ID (diagnostic morphological characters) 2. Lab ID (voucher specimen) 3. Mitochondrial DNA

Photo credit: Ryan Douglas Mitochondrial DNA -passed down only from mother -more copies per cell (2 copies in nDNA, 100-10,000 copies in rDNA) -useful in forensics (more stable, stronger, less degradation over time) Results

-7,485 sculpins observed

-1,019 were subsampled to identify species by chin pore count

-502 (49.3%) were identified as Margined Sculpin

-based on proportions, Margined Sculpin made up 18.9% of all sampled fishes

-CPUE was 0.48 fish min -1 for sites with Margined Sculpin

-CPUE was 0.23 fish min -1 for all fish-bearing sites

-Based on fin ray and chin pore counts, lab ID matched field ID 98.6% of the time

-Other subsampled sculpin were identified as Paiute Sculpin and Torrent Sculpin Carlin et al 2012 Fish Quiz Markel – A Guide to Freshwater Fishes of (copied from a draft version)

Results “Other significant CPUE correlations were found for Northern Pikeminnow, Paiute Sculpin, and Redside Dace (Clinostomus elongates)”

Do we have Redside Dace in Oregon?

Richardsonius balteatus

Carlin et al 2012 Fishbase: North America: Hudson and upper Susquehanna River drainages in New York and Pennsylvania, USA; Great Lakes (except Lake Superior) and Mississippi River basins from New York in USA and south Ontario in Canada to Minnesota and south to West Virginia and Kentucky in USA. More Results

26 fish that were morphologically identified as margined Sculpin were examined with DNA sequence comparisons.

-Haplotype = group of genes within an organism inherited by a single parent

-NJ phylogram = Neighbor Joining family tree

-Polytomy = can’t be broken into separate divergent ancestors.

Carlin et al 2012 Discussion

-Data indicate high local abundance and great diversity (in both summer habitat occupation and mitochondrial DNA haplotype)

-Margined Sculpin are a geographically restricted but highly abundant species with broad macrohabitat requirements, with evidence of substantial gene flow

-Cottids are the numerically dominant benthic fishes in the Walla Walla sub-basin and support the statement by Freeman et al. 1988 and Adams and Schmetterling 2007 that Cottids may have more abundance and total biomass of any stream vertebrate in the northern hemisphere.

-Margined sculpin (as verified by morphological identification) occurred in 29 of the 37 fish-bearing sites. Those sites varied widely in 8 independent habitat variables.

-Margined Sculpin occurrence was significantly correlated with more boulders and slightly warmer temperatures. (This is in contrast to what is described in Lonzarich (1993) as well as the Inland Fishes of WA book). However, everybody agrees that they are not found in riffles.

-Based on the genetic information, they tentatively posit a very low population size for margined sculpin in the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene, a time when high aridity and different drainage patterns might easily isolate any pioneer Margined Sculpin. Carlin et al 2012 Posit = sounds like ‘pause it’ More Discussion

-Note, with concern, the potential for anthropogenic impact on this stream fish. Margined Sculpin will have a restricted distribution, and as such they could be vulnerable to anthropogenic impact.

-Fish passage, flow level, and water temperature are already a high management priority in the region due to the presence of endangered salmonids.

-Other sculpin populations found near agriculture have been associated with lowered fecundity and gonad size in contrast to those in forested lands.

-Such increasing environmental stress may result in expression of deleterious alleles that can reduce fitness.

-Unlike other sculpin species we have studied in the ORAFS Non-Native fish workshop. We should be able to identify Margined Sculpin in the field tomorrow based on morphological characteristics (one chin pore and 14 to 17 anal fin rays).

Carlin et al 2012 Photo Credit: Roger Tabor USFWS