54020 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 201 / Friday, October 17, 1997 / Proposed Rules ASMFC Fisheries Management Report No. Impoundment and water quality drainages, and the imperiled state of 17. 1990. Fishery Management Plan for degradation have eliminated the six many other aquatic snails in the Basin. Atlantic Sturgeon. Atlantic States Marine snails from 90 percent or more of their The taxonomy used in this proposal Fisheries Commission, Nov. 1990. 73 pp. historic habitat. Surviving populations follows Burch (1989), which relies New York State Department of are currently threatened by pollutants almost exclusively on shell morphology. Environmental Conservation. 1996. DEC Announces Emergency Moratorium on such as sediments and nutrients that Many of the Basin's freshwater snail Atlantic Sturgeon. News Release dated wash into streams from the land surface. species, particularly in the family March 22, 1996. This proposed rule, if made final, would Pleuroceridae, are known to exhibit extend the Act's protection to these six marked clinal variation (gradual change List of Subjects snail species. in characters of a species that manifests 50 CFR Part 17 DATES: Comments from all interested itself along a geographic gradient) in shell form, some of which has been Endangered and threatened species, parties must be received by December 16, 1997. Public hearing requests must described as environmentally induced Exports, Imports, Reporting and be received by December 1, 1997. (e.g., Goodrich 1934, 1937). Four of the recordkeeping requirements, six species considered in this proposal Transportation. ADDRESSES: Comments and materials concerning this proposal should be sent belong to the family Pleuroceridae and 50 CFR Part 227 to the Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish and their relationships to each other, as well as to other Pleuroceridae, are poorly Endangered and threatened species, Wildlife Service, 6578 Dogwood View Parkway, Jackson, Mississippi 39213. understood. In order to better document Exports, Imports, Marine mammals, taxonomic relationships among these Transportation. Comments and materials received will be available for public inspection, by snails, a genetic study was conducted Authority: The authority for this action is appointment, during normal business during the status review of a select the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as hours at the above address. group of the Basin's Pleuroceridae amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). (Lydeard et al. 1997). The four snails FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Dated: September 29, 1997. within this family considered herein Paul Hartfield at the above address, or Jamie Rappaport Clark, (lacy elimia, round rocksnail, plicate telephone 601/965±4900, Ext. 25. Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. rocksnail, and painted rocksnail) were Dated: October 2, 1997. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: included in the genetic study. This David L. Evans, Background study supported their current taxonomic status (Lydeard et al. 1997). Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, The Mobile River Basin (Basin) National Marine Fisheries Service. The cylindrical lioplax (Lioplax historically supported the greatest cyclostomaformis (Lea 1841)) is a gill- [FR Doc. 97±27547 Filed 10±16±97; 8:45 am] diversity of freshwater snail species in breathing snail in the family BILLING CODE 4310±55±P the world (Bogan et al. 1995), including Viviparidae. The shell is elongate, six genera and over 100 species that reaching about 28 millimeters (mm) (1.1 were endemic to the Basin. During the DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR inches (in)) in length. Shell color is light past few decades, publications in the to dark olivaceous-green externally, and Fish and Wildlife Service scientific literature have primarily dealt bluish inside of the aperture (shell with the apparent decimation of this opening). The cylindrical lioplax is 50 CFR Part 17 fauna following the construction of distinguished from other viviparid dams within the Basin and the snails in the Basin by the number of RIN 1018±AE36 inundation of extensive shoal habitats whorls, and differences in size, Endangered and Threatened Wildlife by impounded waters (Goodrich 1944, sculpture, microsculpture, and spire and Plants; Proposed Rule to List Athearn 1970, Heard 1970, Stein 1976, angle. No other species of lioplax snails Three Aquatic Snails as Endangered, Palmer 1986, Garner 1990). are known to occur in the Mobile Basin In 1990, the Service initiated a status and Three Aquatic Snails as (see Clench and Turner 1955 for a more review of the endemic freshwater snails Threatened in the Mobile River Basin detailed description). of the Basin. An extensive literature of Alabama Habitat for the cylindrical lioplax is survey identified sources of information unusual for the genus, as well as for AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, on taxonomy, distribution, ecology, and other genera of viviparid snails. It lives Interior. status of the fauna and was used to in mud under large rocks in rapid ACTION: Proposed rule and notice of assemble a checklist of the Basin's currents over stream and river shoals. petition findings. snails and their distributions (Bogan Other lioplax species are usually 1992). Field surveys and collections found in exposed situations or in mud SUMMARY: The Fish and Wildlife Service were made for snails and other or muddy sand along the margins of (Service) proposes to list the cylindrical freshwater mollusks throughout the rivers. Little is known of the biology or lioplax (Lioplax cyclostomaformis), flat Basin (Bogan and Pierson, 1993a,b; life history of the cylindrical lioplax. It pebblesnail (Lepyrium showalteri), and McGregor et al. 1996; Service Field is believed to brood its young and filter- plicate rocksnail (Leptoxis plicata) as Records, Jackson, Mississippi 1989± feed, as do other members of the endangered; and the painted rocksnail 1996; Bogan in litt. 1995; M. Pierson Viviparidae. Life spans have been (Leptoxis taeniata), round rocksnail Field Records, Calera, Alabama, in litt. reported from 3 to 11 years in various (Leptoxis ampla), and lacy elimia 1993±1994; J. Garner, Alabama species of Viviparidae (Heller 1990). (Elimia crenatella) as threatened species Department of Conservation, pers. Collection records for the cylindrical under the authority of the Endangered comm. 1996; J. Johnson, Auburn lioplax exist from the Alabama River Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). University, in litt. 1996). (Dallas County, Alabama), Black Warrior These aquatic snails are found in Bogan et al. (1995) summarized the River (Jefferson County, Alabama) and localized portions of the Black Warrior, results of their efforts noting the tributaries (Prairie Creek, Marengo Cahaba, Alabama, and Coosa rivers or apparent extinction of numerous snail County, Alabama; Valley Creek, their tributaries in Alabama. species in the Coosa and Cahaba River Jefferson County, Alabama), Coosa River Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 201 / Friday, October 17, 1997 / Proposed Rules 54021 (Shelby, Elmore counties, Alabama) and Logan Martin Dams, and recent survey supporting species specific status of the tributaries (Oothcalooga Creek, Bartow efforts have failed to locate any lacy elimia. County, Georgia; Coahulla Creek, surviving populations outside of the Elimia snails are gill breathing snails Whitfield County, Georgia; Armuchee Cahaba River drainage (Bogan and that typically inhabit highly oxygenated Creek, Floyd County, Georgia; Little Pierson, 1993a,b; McGregor et al. 1996; waters on rock shoals and gravel bars. Wills Creek, Etowah County, Alabama; Service Field Records, Jackson, Most species graze on periphyton Choccolocco Creek, Talladega County, Mississippi 1989±1996; Bogan in litt. growing on benthic substrates. Alabama; Yellowleaf Creek, Shelby 1995; M. Pierson Field Records, Calera, Individual snails are either male or County, Alabama), and the Cahaba River Alabama, in litt. 1993±1994; J. Garner female. Eggs are laid in early spring and (Bibb, Shelby counties, Alabama) and its pers. comm. 1996; J. Johnson in litt. hatch in about 2 weeks. Snails tributary, Little Cahaba River (Jefferson 1996). The flat pebblesnail is currently apparently become sexually mature in County, Alabama) (Clench and Turner known from one site on the Little their first year, but, in some species, 1955). A single collection of this species Cahaba River, Bibb County, and from a females may not lay until their second has also been reported from the Tensas single shoal series on the Cahaba River year. Some elimia may live as long as River, Madison Parish, Louisiana above the Fall Line, Shelby County, 5 years (Dillon 1988). (Clench 1962), however, there are no Alabama (Bogan and Pierson 1993b). The lacy elimia was historically previous or subsequent records outside The lacy elimia (Elimia crenatella abundant in the Coosa River main stem of the Alabama-Coosa system, and (Lea 1860)) is a small species in the from St. Clair to Chilton County, searches of the Tensas River in family Pleuroceridae. Growing to about Alabama, and was also known in several Louisiana by Service biologists (1995) 1.1 centimeters (cm) (0.4 in.) in length, Coosa River tributariesÐBig Will's and others (Vidrine 1996) have found no the shell is conic in shape, strongly Creek, DeKalb County; Kelley's Creek, evidence of the species or its typical striate, and often folded in the upper St. Clair County; and Choccolocco and habitat. whorls. Shell color is dark brown to Tallaseehatchee creeks, Talladega The cylindrical lioplax is currently black,