New Occurrence Records of Blackside Dace,
Chrosomus cumberlandensis, in the Big South Fork
Cumberland River Drainage
Rick D. Bivens, Bart D. Carter, Carl E. Williams, Edwin M. Scott, Jr., Douglas E. Stephens, Victoria R. Bishop, and Hayden T. Mattingly
Southeastern Naturalist, Volume 12, Special Issue 4 (2013):171–175
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2013 Southeastern Naturalist Vol. 12, Special Issue 4
New Occurrence Records of Blackside Dace,
Chrosomus cumberlandensis, in the Big South Fork
Cumberland River Drainage
Rick D. Bivens1, Bart D. Carter1, Carl E. Williams1, Edwin M. Scott, Jr.2,
Douglas E. Stephens3, Victoria R. Bishop4, and Hayden T. Mattingly5,*
Abstract - We report new occurrence records of Blackside Dace, Chrosomus cumberlandensis,
from the Big South Fork (BSF) Cumberland River drainage in Kentucky
and Tennessee. The species was not previously known to occur in the BSF basin.
Our new records are from 4 streams in McCreary County, KY, and 4 streams in Scott
County, TN. These records represent a downstream extension of the species’ known
range in the Cumberland River system, as well as a geographic range expansion to the
west and south.
Introduction
Chrosomus cumberlandensis (Starnes and Starnes) (Blackside Dace) is a
federally protected fish species historically known from tributary streams in the
upper Cumberland River system in southeastern Kentucky and northeastern Tennessee
(Fig. 1; Black et al. 2013 [this issue]; Burr and Warren 1986; Eisenhour
and Strange 1998; Etnier and Starnes 2001; Laudermilk and Cicerello 1998,
O’Bara 1990; Starnes and Starnes 1978, 1981; USFWS 1988). However, Skelton
(2013 [this issue]) recently found Blackside Dace in tributaries of the Powell and
Clinch rivers in Virginia, thus expanding its known distribution in a southeastern
direction to new watersheds and a new state (Fig. 1). Our objective here is to
report new distributional records for Blackside Dace in the Big South Fork of the
Cumberland River (hereafter BSF) drainage in Kentucky and Tennessee. Prior to
1999, the furthest downstream occurrences of Blackside Dace in the Cumberland
River system were from the Beaver Creek watershed, and no records from the
BSF drainage were known.
Methods
Site selection and sampling methodology
We did not systematically or exhaustively survey streams within the
BSF drainage to determine Blackside Dace presence or absence. Rather, our
surveys were opportunistic when conducting sampling for other purposes,
and therefore only a portion of the wider BSF drainage has been sampled
1Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, 3030 Wildlife Way, Morristown, TN 37814. 2117
Evergreen Drive, Knoxville, TN 37918. 3PO Box 243, Whitley City, KY 42653. 4USDA
Forest Service, Daniel Boone National Forest, 1700 Bypass Road, Winchester, KY
40391. 5Department of Biology, Box 5063, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville,
TN 38505. *Corresponding author - hmattingly@tntech.edu.
Ecology and Conservation of the Threatened Blackside Dace, Chrosomus cumberlandensis
2013 Southeastern Naturalist 12(Special Issue 4):171–175
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specifically to determine Blackside Dace presence. All of our sampling efforts
used backpack electrofishing, but each of the following surveys involved different
sampling protocols. In 1999, we surveyed White Oak Creek as part of
the Bureau of Land Management’s Abandoned Mine Lands program. In 2002,
we sampled 10 streams on or near Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s
Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area (Carter et al. 2003). Most were small,
second-order streams that were surveyed for catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE)
samples except for 2 larger streams, Straight Fork and Montgomery Fork,
which were surveyed with the index of biotic integrity (IBI) protocol (Karr
et al. 1986) modified for the Cumberland River system. In 2004, we targeted
tributary streams in the same watershed as White Oak Creek specifically to
determine whether they also harbored Blackside Dace. Finally, in 2006, we
sampled Wolf Creek, also near White Oak Creek, as part of surveys in the Big
South Fork National River and Recreation Area sponsored by the National
Park Service.
Figure 1. Known distribution of Blackside Dace, Chrosomus cumberlandensis, in Kentucky,
Tennessee, and Virginia. The known range of Blackside Dace before 1999 (historic
range; dark gray) includes 8 counties in Kentucky and 3 counties in Tennessee. The Big
South Fork Cumberland River drainage (BSF; light gray) contains new Blackside Dace
records from the present study in McCreary and Scott counties (black-filled areas A and
B). New Blackside Dace records from Virginia (black-filled areas C and D) are detailed
by Skelton (2013 [this issue]).
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Results and Discussion
New Blackside Dace populations in Kentucky
Blackside Dace were first observed in the BSF drainage in June 1999 in White
Oak Creek, McCreary County (Table 1, Fig. 1). White Oak Creek is a tributary of
Rock Creek in the BSF drainage. We revisited White Oak Creek in July 2005 and
captured ≥40 individuals. New populations of Blackside Dace were discovered
in 2004 in Dolen Branch and Watts Branch, 2 additional tributary streams in the
Rock Creek watershed. We revisited these 2 streams in July 2005 and captured
≥10 individuals in Dolen Branch and ≥11 individuals in Watts Branch. In May
2006, we captured 9 juvenile Blackside Dace in Wolf Creek, prompting a second
survey further upstream which yielded 25 more individuals, including adult
males in spawning coloration.
New Blackside Dace populations in Tennessee
We found Blackside Dace in four Scott County streams—upper Straight Fork,
Jake Branch, Cross Branch, and a Straight Fork unnamed tributary, representing
previously undocumented populations (Table 1, Fig. 1). These populations
are in the New River watershed within the BSF drainage. We first encountered
Blackside Dace in the Jake Branch tributary to Straight Fork in June 2002.
A local resident showed us his minnow trap, which contained approximately 70
Blackside Dace that were apparently captured in Jake Branch. We subsequently
collected 51 Blackside Dace during our electrofishing survey, yielding a CPUE of
403.5 dace/h for Jake Branch. We collected 52 Blackside Dace in Cross Branch
and another 52 individuals in one site on upper Straight Fork, yielding CPUE
values of 208.4 and 300 dace/h, respectively. We also collected a single Blackside
Dace individual in an unnamed tributary of Straight Fork. It was apparent, based
on size structure and CPUE values, that Blackside Dace are well established and
reproducing in Jake Branch and the upper Straight Fork system.
Origins of the new populations
The new populations reported above could be native to the BSF drainage
or they may represent introductions by humans. To begin investigating this
Table 1. New occurrence records for Blackside Dace, Chrosomus cumberlandensis, in the Big
South Fork basin of Kentucky and Tennessee. Authors who discovered each population are provided
in the fourth column. Year = year population discovered.
Stream County, State Year Discoverers
Dolen Branch McCreary, KY 2004 Bishop, Stephens
Watts Branch McCreary, KY 2004 Bishop, Stephens
White Oak Creek McCreary, KY 1999 Bishop, Stephens
Wolf Creek McCreary, KY 2006 Scott
Cross Branch Scott, TN 2002 Bivens, Carter, Williams
Jake Branch Scott, TN 2002 Bivens, Carter, Williams
Straight Fork (upper portion) Scott, TN 2002 Bivens, Carter, Williams
Unnamed tributary of Straight Fork Scott, TN 2002 Bivens, Carter, Williams
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question, fin tissue samples were collected at selected streams to determine
genetic relatedness to other Blackside Dace populations. We collected tissue
samples from Dolen Branch, Watts Branch, and White Oak Creek in 2005, and
from the Straight Fork population in 2007. Results of the genetic analyses are
pending. The four populations in the Straight Fork watershed, in particular, may
represent an introduction by anglers who frequently collect and use minnows for
bait. This mechanism was also suggested as an explanation for the occurrence of
Blackside Dace in the upper Tennessee River drainage in Virginia (Skelton 2013
[this issue]) and for Chrosomus oreas Cope (Mountain Redbelly Dace) in the
same drainage (Starnes and Jenkins 1988).
Conservation implications and future surveys
The eight new populations reported here are noteworthy because they extend
the distribution of Blackside Dace to a new drainage where the fish had
not been previously documented. However, additional work is required to determine
the status of the new populations. Quantitative surveys to document
stream lengths occupied, and to estimate population sizes would be beneficial.
Comparisons can then be made to populations in other parts of the species’
range (Black et al. 2013 [this issue]). Surveys of other suitable streams
throughout the BSF drainage could yield additional discoveries of Blackside
Dace populations, although we do not expect to find that the species is widely
distributed in the drainage.
The new Blackside Dace populations were found in the upper Cumberland
River region, which is known for its historical and ongoing land disturbances.
The White Oak Creek and Straight Fork populations occur in watersheds where
water quality has been compromised due to mining activities. For example, water
conductivity in July 2005 was 412 μS in White Oak Creek but only 138 μS in its
receiving stream (Rock Creek) (H.T. Mattingly, unpubl. data). Measurements of
pH have been as low as 4.5 in the upper Straight Fork, and even as low as 2.37
in some of its tributaries (Carter et al. 2003). Straight Fork in particular has been
degraded to a condition that is inhospitable to most intolerant forms of fish and
aquatic insects. Many of the tributary streams within the watershed contribute
acidified water to the system, compounding other water quality issues. The occurrence
of Blackside Dace in Straight Fork is of particular importance, not only
as a new locality record, but also because of the existing and potential mining
activities proposed within the watershed.
Acknowledgments
Field assistance was provided by T.R. Black, J. Hunt, R.M. Strange, J. Williams,
and a number of other workers. We thank C.J. Sutherland and K. Snider for Figure 1.
Completion of the manuscript was facilitated by a Tennessee Technological University
Faculty Non-Instructional Assignment during 2011–2012. The manuscript was improved
by comments from the guest editor and two anonymous reviewers.
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