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Preface
- The Kent State University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
vii The purpose of this book is to provide those people who are interested in natural history with a source of information about the amazing diversity of fishes that can be found in the rivers and streams of Ohio and to increase their awareness and appreciation of our aquatic heritage. Numbering more than 31,000 species, fish represent 50 percent of all living vertebrates. When studying these interesting creatures we can appreciate the marvelous complexity of how each species has adapted to fill its particular niche. Of the approximately 775 species of freshwater fishes found in North America, Milton B. Trautman recorded 166 species and 13 subspecies for the state in the 1981 revision of his classic work The Fishes of Ohio. Of this total, historical accounts and early collection data reveal that 18 species and one subspecies were not part of our native fauna. In more recent years, an additional six species have become established. These newcomers reached Ohio waters in a variety of ways. Some have entered the Great Lakes through the St. Lawrence River, and others have been purposely introduced for sport fishing. A few have arrived as stowaways in bilge water from oceangoing freighters; others, like the northern studfish, may have arrived from the dumping of bait buckets and/or aquariums. Our earliest introductions date back to the 1880s, with the stocking of various species of trout and salmon. As terrestrial beings, it is hard to appreciate the complexities present in aquatic environments. This often leads to the belief that if there is water any given species of fish can live there. However, to reduce competition with other species, different species have evolved to fill the different habitats found in aquatic environments. These habitats are identified by characteristic features: type and size of a water body (lakes and streams), stream gradients, presence of riffles and pools, water clarity, substrate composition, and the presence or absence of aquatic vegetation and woody debris. Stream gradients are the driving force behind many habitat variables as current velocity determines a stream’s ability to scour; erode; and transport silts, sands, gravels, and cobbles. The erosion and movement of these substrates in linear stream environments during high flows help determine the number Preface viii Preface and types of riffles present in a stream and are responsible for the formation of sand and gravel bars, pools, root wads, and undercut banks. It is this complex web of habitats that determines where a particular species can be found and allows for the diversity of species present in many streams. A generalist can live in a wide array of habitats. Many fish, especially darters, are specialists, requiring specific water velocities and substrate compositions. Others require water of great clarity to survive. Siltation and pollution have greatly reduced populations of these specialized species . The changes in aquatic habitats over the last two hundred years have profoundly affected aquatic communities. Of the approximately 149 species and 9 subspecies documented as having been native to Ohio in the nineteenth century, the harelip sucker and blue pike are extinct. The Scioto madtom hasn’t been collected since 1957, and most authorities consider it extinct. Eight species are now considered extirpated, twenty endangered, and twenty-two either threatened or listed as species of concern. Surveys Past and Present Ohio has a rich history of amateur and professional naturalists making observations of its flora and fauna. Between 1818 and 1820, C. S. Rafinesque, traveling by boat from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Louisville, Kentucky, made the first descriptions of fishes occurring in the Ohio River and associated tributary streams (Rafinesque 1820). His descriptions of the Ohio River unaltered by dams, with its corridors shrouded in deep forests, give modern readers insight into the early Ohio landscape. Jared P . Kirtland compiled the first lists of animals reported for the state as part of the First Annual Report on the Geological Survey of the State of Ohio, published in 1838. Included in this report were comments on the abundance, distribution, and biology for many species. Between 1838 and 1854, Kirtland published numerous articles in the Boston Journal of Natural History describing the fishes found in the Ohio River, Lake Erie, and their tributary streams. Among several important collections made in the last decade of the nineteenth century were James A. Henshall’s in the Ohio River in 1888–89 and Philip H. Kirsh’s in the Maumee River system in northwest Ohio in 1898. Kirsh’s 1898 report is also important for the descriptions...