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Status and Life History Notes on the Native Fishes of the Alvord Basin, Oregon and Nevada

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Status and Life History Notes on the Native Fishes of the Alvord Basin, Oregon and Nevada Great Basin Naturalist Volume 43 Number 3 Article 5 7-31-1983 Status and life history notes on the native fishes of the Alvord Basin, Oregon and Nevada Jack E. Williams U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Sacramento, California Carl E. Bond Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn Recommended Citation Williams, Jack E. and Bond, Carl E. (1983) "Status and life history notes on the native fishes of the Alvord Basin, Oregon and Nevada," Great Basin Naturalist: Vol. 43 : No. 3 , Article 5. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol43/iss3/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Western North American Naturalist Publications at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Basin Naturalist by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. STATUS AND LIFE HISTORY NOTES ON THE NATIVE FISHES OF THE ALVORD BASIN, OREGON AND NEVADA Jack E. Williams' and Carl E. Bond- .\bstract.— Three fishes, two species of Gila, and an undescribed subspecies of cutthroat trout, are endemic to the Alvord Basin. Historically, the Alvord cutthroat trout, Salmo clarki ssp., inhabited the larger creeks of the basin but has been extirpated in pure form because of introgression with introduced rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri. Gila boraxobitis is restricted to the thermal waters of Borax Lake and its outflows in the northern part of the basin. This species is endangered because of alteration of its fragile habitat. The Alvord chub, G. alvordensis, is recorded from 16 localities throughout the basin, including springs, creeks, and reservoirs. Although G. alvordensis as a species is not in jeopardy, many populations are small and could be easily eliminated by habitat destruction or by the in- troduction of exotic fishes. Competition with exotic guppies, Poecilia reticulata, has extirpated the Thousand Creek Spring population of Alvord chubs. Both species of Gila are opportunistic omnivores, consuming primarily chironomids, microcrustaceans, and dia- toms. Tlie Borax Lake chub also consumed large numbers of terrestrial insects, but specialized feeding on molluscs was noted in the West Spring population of Alvord chubs. Borax Lake chubs spawn throughout the year; however, most spawning occurs in early spring. Borax Lake chubs mature at a small size, occasionally less than 30 mm stan- dard length, and seldom live more than one year. Alvord chubs are typically much larger than the Borax Lake spe- cies and live at least into their fifth year. The Alvord Basin of southeastern Oregon and Whitehorse creeks just east of the Trout and northwestern Nevada is an endorheic Creek Mountains in a separate basin. Al- part of the Great Basin province. Aquatic though exhibiting affinities for the Alvord habitats are sparse and consist primarily of cutthroat trout, the subspecies foimd in Wil- Trout Creek in Oregon, the Virgin-Thousand low and Whitehorse creeks will not be Creek system in Nevada, as well as several treated further in this report. small streams and springs (Fig. 1). During the Our knowledge of the native fishes of the late Pleistocene, a lake of over 1,200 km^ Alvord Basin is limited. The monograph of covered much of the valley floor (Snyder et Great Basin fishes by Hubbs and Miller al. 1964). As pluvial waters dried, fishes were (1948) provided the first detailed account of restricted to remaining permanent springs the Great Basin ichthyofauna and included a and creeks. Three native fishes are endemic brief discussion of the native Alvord Basin to the Alvord Basin. Chubs, genus Gila, oc- fishes and their isolation. However, all the cupy many of the isolated waters in the Al- Alvord Basin fishes remained undescribed un- vord Basin and have diverged into two spe- til 1972, when Hubbs and Miller (1972) diag- cies. The Alvord chub, Gila alvordensis, is nosed the Trout Creek population of Gila as the most common fish in the basin and occurs G. alvordensis. Our studies have resulted in in a variety of springs and creeks. The Borax the description of Gila boraxobitis (Williams Lake chub, G. boraxobitis, is restricted to Bo- and Bond 1980) and a further description of rax Lake and its outflows in Oregon. The Al- G. alvordensis with a taxonomic analysis of vord cutthroat trout, Salmo clarki ssp., is the seven disjunct populations of the species third fish native to the basin. Historic habitat (Williams 1980, Williams and Bond 1980). for the Alvord cutthroat trout consisted of Characters of the Alvord cutthroat trout have the larger streams in the basin, such as Trout been provided by Behnke (1979), but the sub- and Virgin creeks. Another undescribed sub- species remains undescribed. The only pub- species of cutthroat trout occurs in Willow lished life history information on Alvord 'Endangered Species Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1230 "N" Street, 14th Floor, Sacramento, California 95814. 'Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331. 409 410 Great Basin Naturalist Vol. 43, No. 3 o 119 mJk ^N /^ Borax Lake. ,^ « 4 / ^Dufurrena Area ^og Hot Thou Cr . I T.- . Res :^J 50 I 1 I 1 km Fig. 1. Map of major aquatic habitats in the Alvord Basin, Oregon and Nevada. Basin Gila consists of a study of feeding ecol- of the native fishes of the Alvord Basin and ogy by Williams and Williams (1980). This presents additional information on their life paper documents the distribution and status history. July 1983 Williams, Bond: Native Fishes 411 Materials and Methods enumerated in larger females by multiple subsamples of the ovary. Age was determined The distribution and status of fishes was by examining annuli of scales taken from the determined by field surveys, museum records, left side of the body above the lateral line. and testimony of local residents. Many of the Monthly collections were grouped into sea- habitats in the Oregon part of the basin were sons as follows: spring (March-N4ay), summer known prior to this work. On the other hand, (June-August), fall (September-November), the Nevada part of the basin had received and winter (December-February). little attention by ichthyologists, and there- fore most of our survey efforts were focused in the southern one-half of the basin. Surveys Population Accounts were conducted from 12 June 1978 to 26 Au- to gust 1979 and from 13 15 April 1982. Alvord Cutthroat Trout, Salmo clarki ssp. Habitats were sampled with 3 m seines (9.5 mm mesh), dip nets, fish traps, backpack The Alvord cutthroat trout, Salmo clarki ssp., is extinct in electroshocker, and 15 m gill nets (51 mm now pure form. This native mesh). Fishes utilized in this study are depos- trout was known from Virgin Creek in Ne- vada ited at Oregon State University (OS), The and Trout Creek in Oregon, but prob- ably existed in several of the larger University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Alvord Basin creeks during recent times (UMMZ), Tulane University (TU), and the (Hubbs and Miller 1948). University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Trout Creek (Harney County, Oregon).— Information concerning reproduction, lon- The Alvord cutthroat trout occurred in the gevity, and adult sex ratio was determined headwater canyon area of Trout Creek, for Borax Lake chubs collected monthly from where it flows through the Trout Creek March 1978 to January 1979. Fish were col- Mountains. Introgression of introduced rain- lected from the southwest one-quarter of Bo- bow trout, Salmo gairdneri, with the native rax Lake. Specimens were preserved in 10 cutthroat was already noticeable in 1934 col- percent formalin and transferred to 45 per- lections of fish made in Trout Creek by Carl cent isopropanol after one week. Standard L. Hubbs, although trout from more head- length (SL) of specimens was measured to the water localities were quite similar in appear- nearest 0.1 mm with dial calipers. After ance to pure Alvord cutthroat trout (Behnke blotting fish dry on paper towels, wet weight 1979). Cutthroat trout pigmentation was evi- was measured to the nearest 0.01 gona- g. A dent in many specimens collected by one of dosomatic index was calculated weighing by us (CEB) in 1953 and 1957, but none had the left testis ovary or to the nearest 0.001 g, basibranchial teeth. Trout collected from* multiplying by two, thereby accounting for Trout Creek in 1972 (Behnke 1979) and 1978 the right gonad, and dividing by fish weight. to 1980 (our collections) exhibited only rain- Three classes of ova were identified: class 1— bow trout characteristics and we conclude mature ova, yellow color, 0.7 to 1.2 mm di- that the native trout has been extirpated ameter; class II— immature ova, opaque from this creek. Collections made from Cot- white color, 0.4 to 0.6 mm diameter; and tonwood Creek and other streams draining class III—immature ova, transparent, 0.1 to the Trout Creek Mountains yielded only rain- 0.3 mm diameter. The number of ova was bow trout. enumerated in females that possessed only Virgin Creek (Humboldt County, Ne- class I and/ or class II ova. By this method, vada).— Thirty small (<15 cm) Alvord cut- accurate counts could be obtained and these throat trout were collected from Virgin numbers are probably more indicative of the Creek in or near Virgin Creek Gorge by Carl actual number of eggs deposited during L. Hubbs in 1934 (UMMZ 130532). Behnke spawning. In females shorter than 35 mm SL, (1979) considers these specimens to be pure all ova were counted in both ovaries. In fe- native cutthroat trout and provides their de- males 35 to 50 mm SL, all ova were counted scription as follows: body with fewer than 50 in the left ovary, then multiplied by two to relatively large round spots, spots concen- derive the total number of ova.
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