Fishes of Chautauqua, Cowley and Elk Counties, Kansas Part 2

Claire Schelske (1957) studied fishes of the Fall and Verdigris Rivers in Wilson and Montgomery counties from March, 1954, to February, 1955.

In the annotated list of species that follows, records other than mine are designated by the following symbols:

E&F--Evermann and Fordice SBS--State Biological Survey (1910-1912) J&J--Jewell and Jobes (collection on Silver Creek) C--Collection number--Cross (State Biological Survey, 1955) UMMZ--University of Michigan Museum of Zoology OAM--Oklahoma A&M College Museum of Zoology

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful to Professor Frank B. Cross for his interest in my investigation, for his counsel, and for his penetrating criticism of this paper. This study would have been impossible without the a.s.sistance of several persons who helped in the field. Mr. Artie C. Metcalf and Mr.

Delbert Metcalf deserve special thanks for their enthusiastic and untiring co-operation in collecting and preserving of specimens. Mrs.

Artie C. Metcalf, Miss Patricia Metcalf, Mr. Chester Metcalf, and Mr.

Forrest W. Metcalf gave help which is much appreciated. I am indebted to the following persons for numerous valuable suggestions: Dr. John Breukelman, Kansas State Teachers College, Emporia, Kansas; Dr. George Moore, Oklahoma A&M College, and Mr. W. L. Minckley, Lawrence, Kansas.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Collections were made by means of: (1) a four-foot net of nylon screen; (2) a 104-foot "common-sense" woven seine with 1/4-inch mesh; (3) a 154-foot knotted mesh seine; (4) a 205-foot 1/4-inch mesh seine; (5) pole and line (natural and artificial baits). At most stations the four-foot, ten-foot, and twenty-foot seines were used; however, the equipment that was used varied according to the size of pool, number of obstructions, nature of bottom, amount of flow, and type of streambank.

Usually several hours were spent at each station and several stations were revisited from time to time. Percentages noted in the List of Species represent the relative number taken in the first five seine-hauls at each station.

COLLECTING STATIONS

Collecting was done at stations listed below and shown in Fig. 2. Each station was a.s.signed a letter, designating the stream system on which the station was located, and a number which indicates the position of the station on the stream. This number increases progressively upstream from mouth to source. Code letters used are as follows: A--Arkansas River; W--Walnut River System; B--Beaver Creek System; C--Big Caney River System; G--Grouse Creek System; M--Middle Caney Creek System; E--Elk River System. All dates are in the year 1956.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2.

Map of Cowley, Chautauqua and Elk counties, Kansas, showing stations at which collecting was done.]

A-1. Arkansas River. Sec. 2 and 3, T. 35 S, R. 4 E. June 14 and August 20. Braided channel with sand bottom. Water slightly turbid, with layer of oil sludge on bottom.

A-2. Arkansas River. Sec. 22, T. 34 S, R. 3 E. August 25. Flowing through diverse channels. Average depth 12 inches. Bottom sand. (Plate 9, fig. 1.)

A-3. Arkansas River. Sec. 21, T. 33 S, R. 3 E. August 27 and December 22. Flowing over fine sand. Average depth 11 inches. Some areas of backwater with oil sludge on bottom.

W-1. Walnut River. Sec. 20, T. 34 S, R. 4 E. July 7. Flowing rapidly, with large volume, because of recent rains. Average width 300 feet.

Bottom gravel. Water turbid.

W-2. Walnut River. Sec. 11, T. 34 S, R. 4 E. July 20. Rubble riffles and large shallow pools with gravel bottoms. Average width, 100 feet. Water clear.

W-3. Walnut River. Sec. 29, T. 32 S, R. 4 E. July 17. Pools and riffles below Tunnel Mill Dam at Winfield. Water clear.

W-4. Badger Creek. Sec. 6, T. 33 S, R. 5 E. July 17. Small pools.

Average width 7 feet, average length 40 feet, average depth 8 inches.

Water turbid and malodorous. Bottoms and banks mud. Much detritus present.

W-5. Timber Creek. Sec. 35, T. 31 S, R. 4 E. June 6. Intermittent pools, widely separated. Average width 9 feet, average depth 8 inches. Bottom mud and gravel.

B-1. Big Beaver Creek. Sec. 8, T. 35 S, R. 7 E. May 28. Isolated pools.

Average width 10 feet, average depth one foot. Water turbid. Bottom rubble.

B-2. Little Beaver Creek. Sec. 18, T. 35 S, R. 6 E. July 21.

Intermittent pools. Average width 10 feet, average length 35 feet, average depth 10 inches. Bottoms rubble, mud, and bedrock.

B-3. Big Beaver Creek. Sec. 28, T. 34 S, R. 7 E. July 22. Series of small turbid pools.

G-1. Grouse Creek. Sec. 5, T. 35 S, R. 5 E. May 30, September 5, and September 24. Intermittent pools in close succession. Average width 22 feet, average depth 16 inches. Water turbid on May 30 but clear in September. Bottom rubble. Steep banks. Little shade for pools.

G-2. Grouse Creek. Sec. 23, T. 34 S, R. 5 E. August 29. Series of shallow intermittent pools. Average width 42 feet, average length 120 feet, average depth 15 inches. Bottom bedrock and mud. (Plate 9, fig.

2.)

G-3. Grouse Creek. Sec. 6, T. 34 S, R. 6 E. July 12. Intermittent pools.

Average width 20 feet, average length 65 feet, average depth 14 inches.

Bottom bedrock and gravel. _Justicia americana_ L. abundant.

G-4. Grouse Creek. Sec. 12, T. 33 S, R. 6 E. June 1 and September 7.

Intermittent pools. Average width 15 feet, average length 100 feet, average depth 18 inches. Water turbid in June, clear in September.

_Najas guadalupensis_ Spreng., and _Myriophyllum heterophyllum_ Michx.

common.

G-5. Grouse Creek. Sec. 19, T. 32 S, R. 7 E. July 2. Succession of riffles and pools. Water clear. Volume of flow approximately one cubic foot per second, but creek bankful after heavy rains on June 22. Average width 20 feet, average depth 18 inches.

G-6. Grouse Creek. Sec. 32, T. 31 S, R. 7 E. July 8. Small intermittent pools to which cattle had access. Water turbid, bottom mud and rubble.

Average width 10 feet, average depth 8 inches. Stream-bed covered with tangled growths of _Sorghum halepense_ (L.).

G-7. Grouse Creek. Sec. 34, T. 30 S, R. 7 E. July 8. Stream flowing slightly. Water clear. Average width of pools 30 feet; average depth 20 inches. Bottom bedrock and gravel. _Myriophyllum heterophyllum_ Michx., _Nelumbo lutea_ (Willd.), and _Justicia americana_ L. common in shallow water.

G-8. Silver Creek. Sec. 1, T. 33 S, R. 5 E. July 17. Intermittent pools.

Average width 30 feet, average length 120 feet, average depth 12 inches.

Water clear.

G-9. Silver Creek. Sec. 4, T. 32 S, R. 6 E. July 17. Small upland brook with volume less than one-half cfs. Average width 12 feet, average depth 10 inches. Water clear, bottom mostly rubble.

G-10. Crab Creek. Sec. 33, T. 33 S, R. 6 E. June 24. Intermittent pools, showing evidence of having flowed after rains on June 22. Average width 15 feet, average depth 16 inches.

G-11. Crab Creek. Sec. 35, T. 33 S, R. 6 E. July 16. Small intermittent pools. Average width 13 feet, average length 55 feet, average depth 11 inches. Water clear. Bottom rubble and mud.

G-12. Crab Creek. Sec. 28, T. 33 S, R. 7 E. June 2 and July 20. Isolated pools. Average width 18 feet, average depth one foot. Water turbid.

Bottom bedrock and rubble. _Myriophyllum heterophyllum_ and _Justicia americana_ abundant.

G-13. Crab Creek. Sec. 21, T. 33 S, R. 7 E. July 29. Isolated pools 300 feet by 24 feet. Average depth 12 inches. Water turbid.