The Fishes of George Washington Carver National Monument, Missouri, 2003

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By B.G. Justus and James C. Petersen

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Abstract

Fish were collected at six sites at George Washington Carver National Monument by seining and electrofishing during a base-flow period on July 17-18, 2003. Approximately 700 fish were collected and identified at the six sampling sites. Those individuals represented 17 species (and 1 hybrid) and 13 genera. The number of species collected at the five stream sites ranged from 9 to 12; a hybrid sunfish and 4 species were collected from a pond. Fish collected at stream sites were typical of small headwater streams and no species collected in this study are federally-listed threatened or endangered species. The three most common species were the southern redbelly dace, central stoneroller, and green sunfish.

Some differences existed between the assemblages (groups of species) collected in 2003 and in the previous inventories. Four of the 17 fish species collected in this inventory previously had not been collected at the monument. However, 11 species collected in one or more of the previous inventories were not collected in this effort. There is no indication that a change in environmental conditions is responsible for the absence of these species; more likely reasons are seasonal variability, extirpation, low population density, and misidentification.

Four species collected at George Washington Carver National Monument may be of special interest to National Park Service managers and others. The cardinal shiner and stippled darter are endemic to the Ozark Plateaus. The Arkansas darter is considered a species of conservation concern by the State of Missouri. The grass carp is an introduced species.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Description of Study Area
• Methods
• Fishes of George Washington Carver National Monument
  • Relation of Fishes to Habitats and Distributional Ranges
  • Comparison to Past Inventories
  • Species of Interest
• Summary
• References

1. Map showing location of sampling sites at George Washington Carver National Monument, 2003

1. Site-specific information for six fish sampling sites at George Washington Carver National Monument
2. Number of fish collected at six sampling sites at George Washington Carver National Monument
3. Relative abundance of fish collected at five sampling sites at George Washington Carver National Monument
4. Classification of fish collected at five sampling sites at George Washington Carver National Monument
5. List of fish species expected to occur at George Washington Carver National Monument
6. List of fish collected in five inventories at George Washinton Carver National Monument from 1983 to 2003

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U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey Persistent URL: http://pubsdata.usgs.gov/pubs/sir/2005/5128/ Page Contact Information: USGS Publishing Network Last modified: Thursday, December 01 2016, 06:40:17 PM

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