Fishes of the Big Blue River Basin, Kansas Part 3

51-M: Republic Co., Rose Creek, Sec. 20, T. 1S, R. 2W, July 23, 1958.

52-S: Marshall Co., Big Blue River, Sec. 6, T. 4S, R. 7E, Aug. 6, 1958.

53-S: Marshall Co., Big Blue River, Sec. 18, T. 3S, R. 7E, July 29 and 30, 1957; May 28, and Aug. 6, 1958.

54-G: Marshall Co., Hop Creek, Sec. 13 and 18, T. 3S, R. 7E, May 28, 1958.

55-M: Marshall Co., Spring Creek, Sec. 29, T. 2S, R. 8E, July 9, 1958.

56-S: Marshall Co., Big Blue River at Marysville Dam, Sec. 20, T. 2S, R. 7E, June 16, 1958.

57-M: Marshall Co., Horseshoe Creek, Sec. 6, T. 2S, R. 7E, July 1, 1958.

58-G: Marshall Co., unnamed creek, Sec. 2, T. 1S, R. 7E, July 1, 1958.

59-G: Marshall Co., Mission Creek, Sec. 3, T. 1S, R. 8E, Nov. 30, 1957.

ANNOTATED LIST OF SPECIES

Forty-eight species were obtained in this survey and five others have been recorded in literature or are deposited in museums: KSC = Kansas State College Museum; and UMMZ = University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. Specimens, unless designated otherwise, are in the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History (KU).

In this list, the scientific name of each species is followed by the common name, citations of previous records, and the stations where the species was obtained. I follow Bailey (1956:328-329) in treating _Lepisosteus osseus_ (Linnaeus), _Catostomus commersonnii_ (Lacepede), _Semotilus atromaculatus_ (Mitchill), _Notropis lutrensis_ (Baird and Girard), _Pimephales promelas_ Rafinesque, _Ictalurus melas_ (Rafinesque), _Ictalurus punctatus_ (Rafinesque), and _Lepomis macrochirus_ Rafinesque, in binomial form only.

=Scaphirhynchus platorynchus= (Rafinesque), shovelnose sturgeon: Jennings (1942:364) as _Scaphirhynchus platorhynchus_ (Rafinesque); Bailey and Cross (1954:191). Stations 3-S and 4-S.

Shovelnose sturgeon were found only in the lower portion of the Big Blue River. On April 20, 1957, many were seen in fishermen's creels at Stations 3-S and 4-S. One male and two females that I examined on that date were ripe or nearly so; eggs seemed well developed and milt flowed freely from the male. After April, 1957, none was collected or observed until April 26, 1958, when one specimen was obtained while shocking. Forbes and Richardson (1920:27) reported that shovelnose sturgeon sp.a.w.n in Illinois between April and June, and Eddy and Surber (1947:80) reported sp.a.w.ning in May and early June in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

=Lepisosteus platostomus= Rafinesque, shortnose gar: Jennings (1942:364). Stations 3-S and 4-S.

I saw shortnose gar at various times in 1956 and 1957 at Rocky Ford Dam on the Big Blue River (Station 4-S). One was seen while shocking at Station 3-S on December 26, 1957.

=Lepisosteus osseus= (Linnaeus), longnose gar: Jennings (1942:364) as _Lepisosteus osseus oxyurus_ Rafinesque. Stations 1-S, 2-S, 3-S, 4-S, 6-S, 8-S, 9-G, 15-S, 18-G, 25-S, 41-S, 44-S, 52-S, and 53-S.

Longnose gar were abundant in the mainstream of the Big Blue River but usually evaded capture. This species, and the shortnose gar, resided in the larger rivers, with _L. osseus_ being taken in only two creeks near their mouths. In periods of high water, gar moved into the flooded creeks, but returned to the river as stream-levels subsided.

Young-of-the-year _L. osseus_, averaging 21.5 mm. in total length (range 13 to 30 mm.), were taken on June 14, 1957, and larger young (estimated 60 to 70 mm. total length) were taken on June 27, 1958.

=Dorosoma cepedianum= (LeSueur), gizzard shad: Jennings (1942:364).

Stations 1-S, 3-S, 4-S, 6-S, 8-S, 44-S, 45-M, and 53-S.

Most gizzard shad were young-of-the-year, taken on July 16 and 17, 1957, at Stations 3-S and 4-S. Twenty specimens from Station 6-S that were in their second summer of life were from 3.8 to 5.9 inches total length at the last annulus (average 4.3). This species was usually found in quiet water and was most abundant near the mouth of the Big Blue River.

=Hiodon alosoides= (Rafinesque), goldeye. Stations 3-S, 4-S, and 53-S.

I caught five specimens of _H. alosoides_ from the Big Blue River, and another specimen, obtained by Dr. R. B. Moorman in 1954, is at Kansas State College (KSC 4984).

One goldeye that I caught on April 20, 1956, prior to the beginning of my study, was a ripe female measuring 15.5 inches total length. The fish was beginning its seventh summer of life.

=Cycleptus elongatus= LeSueur, blue sucker. The blue sucker is included on the basis of a single specimen (KSC 2917) collected by I. D. Graham and labeled "Blue River." No other data are with the specimen; however, most fishes deposited at Kansas State College by Graham are dated "1885" or "1886" and were caught near "Manhattan" (Riley County).

=Ictiobus cyprinella= (Valenciennes), bigmouth buffalo. Stations 3-S, 6-S, and 30-M.

Bigmouth buffalo were rare, and were taken only in quiet parts of larger streams, and in the borrow-pit at Station 6-S.

=Ictiobus niger= (Rafinesque), black buffalo. Stations 3-S, 41-S, and 53-S.

Only four individuals of _I. niger_ were taken. All were large adults (more than 20 inches in total length), and all were shocked in the deeper, swifter areas, where the channel narrowed.

=Ictiobus bubalus= (Rafinesque), smallmouth buffalo. Stations 1-S, 3-S, 6-S, 7-G, 18-G, 38-S, 41-S, 43-S, 46-M, and 53-S.

This species was found in relatively quiet waters in the main channel, in cut-off areas, and in creek-mouths. The ages and total lengths of 30 individuals obtained at Station 6-S were (average followed by number of fish in parentheses): I, 2.4 (11); II, 4.4 (14); and III, 6.6 (5).

Canfield and Wiebe (1931:6-7, 10) recorded "buffalo-fish" and "buffalo" from the Big Blue Basin in Nebraska; however, no specific designation was given.

=Carpiodes forbesi= Hubbs, plains carpsucker. Station 3-S.

This represents the first record known to me of the plains carpsucker from Kansas. The specimen (KU 4180), 430 mm. in standard length, has the following characters: lower lip without a median, nipple-like projection; dorsal fin-rays, 25; lateral-line scales, 38; diameter of orbit into distance from anterior nostril to tip of snout, 1.1; body-depth into standard length, 3.3; and head-length into standard length, 3.9. The specimen was taken while shocking a wide, shallow channel, over sand bottom.

=Carpiodes carpio carpio= (Rafinesque), river carpsucker: Jennings (1942:364). Stations 1-S, 2-S, 3-S, 4-S, 5-G, 6-S, 7-G, 8-S, 9-G, 11-G, 14-S, 15-S, 18-G, 19-G, 23-G, 25-S, 27-G, 28-G, 30-M, 38-S, 39-S, 41-S, 42-S, 43-S, 44-S, 45-M, 50-S, 52-S, and 53-S.

The river carpsucker occurred at most stations on the larger streams, and in many of the smaller tributaries. In smaller streams _C. c. carpio_ frequented the largest pools, in or near the floodplains of larger streams. A marked preference for still water, soft, silty bottoms, and areas with drift or other cover was apparent; however, the species also occurred in open waters with moderate to swift currents.

The sizes attained by the river carpsucker at different ages were (averages followed by number of fish in parentheses): I, 1.9 (10); II, 3.9 (5); III, 5.3 (8); IV, 7.7 (5); V, 11.9 (2); VI, 11.6 (7); VII, 12.8 (6); VIII, 13.1 (1); IX, 14.9 (2); X, 15.8 (8); and XI, 17.6 (1). These averages are significantly less than those reported by Buchholz (1957:594) for the river carpsucker in the Des Moines River, Iowa.

Examination of the gonads of river carpsucker in summer, 1957, indicated that sp.a.w.ning occurred in late July. Young-of-the-year, averaging 21 mm. in total length, first appeared in my collections on July 30, 1957.

=Carpiodes velifer= (Rafinesque), highfin carpsucker: Meek (1895:135); Evermann and c.o.x (1896:389).

The highfin carpsucker was not taken in my survey. Meek (1895:135) reported "this small sucker [_C. velifer_] ... common in Blue River at Crete," characterizing the specimens as having "Dorsal rays, 24 to 30; scales in the lateral-line, 36 to 41; head 3 to 4; and depth 2 to 3." The ranges in the number of dorsal rays and the number of scales in the lateral-line are higher than usual in _C.

velifer_, or in _C. c. carpio_, which is now common in the Big Blue River Basin. Both species normally have 33 to 37 lateral-line scales and 27 or fewer dorsal rays (Bailey, 1956:352-353; Moore, 1957:79; and Trautman, 1957:81-82). The other characters listed by Meek would fit the young and some adults of either species, or possibly a composite including _C. forbesi_.

Graham (1885:72) and Cragin (1885:107) reported _Ictiobus velifer_ (= _Carpiodes velifer_) from "Eureka Lake," Riley County, Kansas.

This lake, which no longer exists, was in the Kansas River Valley, about ten miles upstream from the mouth of the Big Blue River.

Other, more recent records from the Kansas River Basin, in the vicinity of the Big Blue River, are: Maple Leaf Lake, Riley Co., Oct. 4, 1925; Deep Creek, Riley Co., no date; Wildcat Creek, Riley Co., Sept. 7, 1923; and Wildcat Creek, Riley Co., Sept. 29, 1925 (UMMZ 122187-90). Most of the collections were made by Minna E.

Jewell (Nelson, personal communication).

=Moxostoma aureolum= (LeSueur), northern redhorse: Cragin (1885:108) as _Moxostoma macrolepidotum_ LeSueur; Meek (1895:136) as _Moxostoma macrolepidotum duquesnei_ (LeSueur); Evermann and c.o.x (1896:394-395); and Jennings (1942:364) as _Moxostoma erythrurum_ (Rafinesque).

Stations 41-S, 43-S, 44-S, and 53-S.

I collected three northern redhorse from the Big Blue River Basin, and another specimen was seined in the mouth of Mill Creek, Riley County (my present Station 9-G) by the Kansas State College cla.s.s in fisheries management in 1954 (KSC 5068). I reidentify as _M. aureolum_ the two specimens recorded by Jennings (_loc. cit._) as _M.

erythrurum_.

The subspecific status of _M. aureolum_ in the Kansas River Basin is to be the subject of another paper.

=Catostomus commersonnii= (Lacepede), white sucker: Canfield and Wiebe (1931:8) as "common suckers"; and Breukelman (1940:380). Stations 7-G, 11-G, 12-G, 13-G, 16-G, 18-G, 19-G, 23-G, 29-G, 31-G, 53-S, 57-M, and 58-G.