Transcript Presentation

Fish Diversity of Western Pennsylvania
Thanks to:
Dr. Andy Turner
Dept. of Biology
Clarion University
Clarion, PA 16214
Fish Diversity
• > 25,000 species worldwide
• 58% Marine
• 41% Freshwater (9600 spp.)
• 1% Move back and forth (anadromous and
catadromous)
• Diversity highest in tropics for both
freshwater and marine fishes
North American Freshwater
Fauna
• 1061 species
• Worlds most diverse temperate fauna
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Pennsylvania: 159 spp.
Great Lakes: 176 spp.
French Creek: 66 spp.
Ohio’s Big Darby: 100 spp.
Ohio’s Little Miami: 84 spp.
Argent et al., JPAS, 2000
Argent et al., JPAS, 2000
Higher Taxonomic Organization
• Superclass Agnatha - jawless fishes
(lampreys, hagfishes)
• Superclass Gnathostomata
– Class Chondrichthyes - cartilaginous fishes
(sharks, skates, rays) (800 spp.)
– Grade Teleostomi -bony fishes (24,000 spp.)
• Class Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fishes)
• Class Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
Petromyzontidae - Lamprey
Chestnut lamprey
Lampreys
• Key Traits: eel-like body, circular mouth in
adults (oral disk), horny teeth on tongue, seven
gill slits, notochord, scaleless
• Diversity: five species in Laurentian Great
Lakes, seven species in PA
• Two-stage life-history
• Parasitic and non-parasitic sister species in
each genera, parasitic forms ancestral
Acipenseridae - Sturgeon
Sturgeons
• Key traits: heterocercal tail, five rows of
large, bony scales (scutes), protrusable,
ventral mouth, two pairs of ventral barbels
in front of mouth, elongate snout, single
dorsal fin placed far back near tail.
• Diversity: 24 spp. Northern Hemisphere, 8
spp. North America, 4 spp. PA 5 of 8
species endangered or threatened
• Long lived (White Sturgeon up to 80 years)
Sturgeons - cont.
• Largest of FW fishes: White Sturgeon up to 12
ft, 1,500 lbs.
• Late maturity: 5-30 years for Atlantic Sturgeon
• Fecund: ovaries 25% of body weight
• Commercially exploited for meat and caviar
• Some species anadromous
• Formerly very abundant
• Hurt by declining water quality and damming
of large rivers
Polyodontidae - Paddlefish
Paddlefish
Paddlefish
• Key Traits: Elongated, paddle shaped snout,
heterocercal tail, no scales, cartilaginous skeleton
• Diversity: one sp. NA, two worldwide
• Large: up to 7 ft., 200 lbs
• zooplanktivore, filterfeeder, fine gill rakers
• long-lived, slow maturing species
• large river species
• currently being reintroduced into lower
Allegheney
Lepisosteidae - Gar
Longnose gar
Gars
• Key traits: heterocercal tail, ganoid scales,
jaw and face extended into a long snout,
elongate body, needle-like teeth
• Diversity: Seven species in Northern
Hemisphere, 2 in PA
• Air gulpers: swim bladder connected to
esophagus
• Large fish: Alligator gar to 10 ft., 300 lbs
• Piscivorous, ambush predators
• Ask about the chickens
Bowfin - Amidae
Bowfin
• Key traits: long dorsal fin, large mouth,
massive bones covering head, cycloid scales
• Diversity: 1 sp. Worldwide
• Undulating dorsal fin allows backward
movement
• widely distributed in North America
• Air gulper, tolerant of low O2
• Large, up to 1 meter length and 20 lbs
• Highly developed parental care
Hiodontidae - Mooneyes
Mooneye
Mooneye and Goldeye
• Key traits: herring-like (laterally compressed), large
eyes, teeth on tongue, dorsal fin placed far back
• Diversity: two species in family, North American
• Relict species
• Most primitive of the teleostei
• Resident of large rivers and large lakes
• Nocturnal
• Takes flies, good eating
• Goldeye - more tolerant of turbid waters
Angullidae - Eels
American eel
Eels
• Key traits: snake-like shape, large mouth,
pointed snout, elongate dorsal fin
continuous with caudal fin
• Diversity: 15 spp. worldwide, 1 in NA
• Catadromous - migrate to open ocean to
spawn.
• Spawning ground discovered to be in
Sargasso Sea in 1922.
• Semelparous
• Nocturnal
Clupeidae
Gizzard shad
Clupeidae - Herrings
• Key traits: Herring-like, laterally compressed,
keeled ventral midline with sharp saw-tooth scales
• Diversity: 181 spp., mostly marine, 10 freshwater, 6
spp. in PA
• Examples: shads, herrings, sardines, menhaden,
alwives
• Huge economic importance b/c of commercial uses
as people food, livestock feed, fish meal, fertilizer
• Important forage fish in many systems
• A few anadromous species
Superorder Ostariophysi
(Minnows, Suckers, Catfishes)
• Weberian Ossicles - a series of small bones
that connect the inner ear to the swim
bladder, aids in hearing
• Ostariophysan alarm system - speciealized
cells in the skin that release an alarm
substance when they are ruptured
Cyprinidae - Minnows
Blacknose dace
Cyprinidae - Minnows
• Key Characters: soft rays, highly protrusible
upper jaw, pharyngeal teeth, anal fin far
relatively far forward
• Diversity: 2000 species worldwide, most diverse
freshwater family 302 spp. in North America
• Often small fish, but not always: carp - 60 lbs.
• Colorful males, elaborate nest building and
courtship behaviors
Creek chub
Striped shiner
Colorado squawfish
Common carp
Catostomidae - Suckers
Shorthead redhorse
Catostomidae - Suckers
• Key traits: soft-rays, ventral, protrusable
mouth, anal fin relatively far back,
pharyngeal teeth in a single row of > 16
• Diversity: 70 spp. in North America, 18
spp. Pennsylvania
• Thick lips - papillate
• Often the biomass dominant in lakes and
streams
Ictaluridae - Catfishes
Black bullhead
Ictaluridae - Catfishes
• Key Traits: Teeth on roof of mouth, adipose fin, a
spine at the front of dorsal and pectoral fins that
produce a toxin in some species, no scales, small
eyes, whisker-like barbels
• Diversity: 37 spp., endemic to North America
• Madtoms: diverse group of little catfishes, adipose
fin continuous with caudal fin
• Large: blue and flathead catfishes exceed 100 lbs.
• Barbels serve chemosensory and tactile functions
Esocidae - Pickerels
Northern pike
Esocidae - Pickerels
• Key traits: extended snout, anal and dorsal fin
placed far back, tail deeply forked, large mouth
• Diversity: 5 spp., worldwide, all of which are
commonly found in PA
• voracious ambush predators
• large: world record muskie: 5 1/2 feet, 70 lbs.
Umbridae (Mudminnows)
Central mudminnow
Umbridae (Mudminnows)
• Key traits: dark vertical bar at base of tail, cudal fin
rounded, dorsal fin relatively far back
• Diversity: 4 species in North America, 2 in PA
• Can survive anoxic conditions, often is the sole fish
species in ponds prone to winterkill
Osmeridae - Smelts
Rainbow smelt
Osmeridae - Smelts
• Key traits: elongate body, large mouth, adipose fin,
teeth on tongue, soft rays
• Diversity: one spp., rainbow smelt, an anadromous
species that has been widely introduced to inland
lakes
• A cold water fish
• Important food web effects, including a voracious
predator on larval fishes
Salmonidae - Trout and Salmon
Steelhead
Salmonidae - Trout and Salmon
• Key traits: adipose fin, soft rays, a
triangular flap at base of pelvic fin (pelvic
auxillary process), gill membranes free
from ventral side of head, physotomous gas
bladder (connected to gut), vertical barring
(parr marks) on sides of young, maxilla
included in gape
• Important group from aesthetic, economic,
and scientific perspectives
• Three subfamilies
Coregoninae (Whitefishes)
Lake whitefish
Whitefishes and Ciscoes
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About 32 species, North America and Eurasia
No teeth on jaws, large scales
Generally planktivorous, cold-water lake species
A great deal of within-species variation in
morphology
• Important in some commercial fisheries
• Several species extinct due to overfishing,
competition with exotic species
Thymalinae - Graylings
• 5 or so species worldwide
• A high-latitude, cold-water fish
• high, elongate dorsal fin
Salmoninae
• Key traits: small dorsal fin, small scales,
teeth present on maxillary bones
• Three genera and 20 spp. in North America
• Salvelinus (Chars): Artic char, dolly varden,
bull trout, brook trout, lake trout,
Salvelinus (chars): artic char, dolly varden,
bull trout, brook trout, lake trout
Brook trout
brook trout
Lake trout
Salmo (Atlantic salmon and trout): Atlantic
salmon, brown trout
Brown trout
Oncorhynchus (Pacific salmon and trout):
coho, chinook, chum, sockeye, and pink
salmon; rainbow and cutthroat trouts, gila and
golden trout (11 or so species total)
Rainbow trout
Chinook salmon
Sockeye salmon
Yellowstone cuttthroat
Bonneville Cutthroat
Gadidae - Codfishes
Burbot
Gadidae - Codfishes
• Key traits:Slender body, single barbel on tip
of chin, no spines, long dorsal and anal fins
• Diversity: 25 NA spp., one of which is FW:
burbot
• Burbot inhabit deep, cold waters of lakes
and large rivers, a northern fish
• Spawns in winter, often under the ice
• Feeds on crayfish and fish
Advanced Teleosts
• Upper jaw mobility and protrusibility are
maximal
• Pharyngeal dentition highly developed
• Spiny rays
• Pelvic fins places far forward
• Physoclistous gas bladder
• Two distinct dorsal fins
• Pelvic and anal fins with spines, pectoral
fins placed laterally on body
Atherinidae (Silversides)
Brook silversides
Atherinidae (Silversides)
• Key traits: quite elongated, nearly transparent,
superior mouth, large keel-like anal fin, small dorsal
• Diversity: 170 spp. world-wide, mostly marine. One
important North American freshwater
representative: brook silversides
• Schools near waters surface, feeds on plankton and
emerging insects, quite fragile.
Fundulidae (topminnows)
Northern studfish
Fundulidae (topminnows)
• Key traits: flattened head and back, upturned
mouth, large eyes, spineless fins, one dorsal far
back on body
• Diversity: 40 spp. in family, two freshwater
species in PA (banded killifish, mummichog)
• Found in fresh, brackish, and salt water
• Center of diversity in SE US
• Great aquarium fish
• Surface feeders
Plains killifish
Gasterosteidae (sticklebacks)
Brook stickleback
Gasterosteidae (sticklebacks)
• Key traits: spiny rays, each dorsal spine
connected to back with its own membrane,
scaleless, narrow caudal peduncle
• Diversity: 7 spp. worldwide, 4 spp. NA
• Complex mating behaviors
• Phenotypic plasticity
• Distinctive morphs, or subspecies
Cottidae (sculpins)
Mottled sculpin
Cottidae (sculpins)
• Key traits: enlarged, flattened head, expansive
pectoral fins, no scales
• Diversity: about 300 spp. worldwide, mostly
marine, PA reps include mottled, slimy, and
spoonhead sculpins
• Bottom dwellers in clean, cold water
• Males defend nests under rocks
• Muddler flies?
The Perciformes
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Most diverse order of fishes (and of all verts)
148 families, 9300 spp. (all birds = 9000 spp.)
Most highly derived of all fishes
Cichlids, croakers, gobies, wrasses, temperate
basses, sea basses, centropomids (snooks),
sunfishes, drums, perch, and damselfishes
Moronidae - Temperate Basses
Striped bass
Moronidae - Temperate Basses
• Key traits: laterally compressed, deep bodied fish,
2 dorsal fins, first with 9 spines, 2nd with 1 spine
and 11-14 rays, 3 anal spines, large spine on gill
cover, strongly sawtoothed preopercle
• Diversity: 4 spp. in NA, 3 spp. in PA
• Striped bass and white perch - anadromous (in
part), yellow bass and white bass FW
• Pelagic, schooling piscivores
• Important sport fishery
Sciaenidae - Drums
Freshwater drum
Sciaenidae - Drums
• Key traits: deep body, highly arched back, 2 dorsal
fins, 1st short with spines, 2nd long with rays, 1-2
anal spines, lateral line extends across tail
• Diversity: 210 spp. worldwide, mostly marine spp.
(red drum, black drum of US Gulf coast)
• One NA FW species: Freshwater drum
– lives in medium to large rivers, large lakes
– huge range: Guatamala to Canada
– quite vocal: uses gas bladder as a reasonating chamber
Centrarchidae - Sunfishes
Bluegill
Centrarchidae - Sunfishes
• Key traits: laterally compressed, 2 dorsal fins, 1st
with spines, 2nd with rays, broadly joined so as to
be a single fin
• Diversity: 32 spp., 9 genera, endemic to NA
freshwaters east of Rocky Mountains, 16 spp. PA
• Genera include Lepomis (true sunfishes),
Micropterus (black basses), Ambloplites, (rock
basses), Pomoxis (Crappies), Enneacanthus (banded
and bluespotted sunfishes)
Black crappie
Green sunfish
Longear sunfish
Orangespotted sunfish
Rockbass
Smallmouth bass
Largemouth bass
Percidae - Perches
Rainbow darter
Percidae - Perches
• Key traits: seperate dorsal fins, thoracic pelvic fins
with 1 spine, five rays
• Diversity: three subgroups
– Perca - 1 NA species, yellow perch
– Stizostedion - 2 NA species, walleye and sauger
– darters - 150 spp., mostly in the genera Etheostoma and
Percina
• small, benthic fish that live in streams and less frequently,
lakes. Amazingly colorful. Endemic to North America.
• French Creek darter diversity = 15 spp.
Walleye
Gilt darter
Greenside darter