Fish Diversity of Western Pennsylvania

1. Fish Diversity of Western Pennsylvania Thanks to: Dr. Andy Turner Dept. of Biology Clarion University Clarion, PA 16214

2. 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

3. North American Freshwater Fauna • 1061 species • Worlds most diverse temperate fauna • Pennsylvania: 159 spp. • Great Lakes: 176 spp. • French Creek: 66 spp. • Ohio’s Big Darby: 100 spp. • Ohio’s Little Miami: 84 spp.

4. Argent et al., JPAS, 2000

5. Argent et al., JPAS, 2000

6. 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)

7. Petromyzontidae - Lamprey Chestnut lamprey

9. 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

10. Acipenseridae - Sturgeon

11. 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)

12. 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

13. Polyodontidae - Paddlefish Paddlefish

14. 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

15. Lepisosteidae - Gar Longnose gar

16. 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

17. Bowfin - Amidae

18. 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

19. Hiodontidae - Mooneyes Mooneye

20. 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

21. Angullidae - Eels American eel

22. 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

23. Clupeidae Gizzard shad

24. 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

25. 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

26. Cyprinidae - Minnows Blacknose dace

27. 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

28. Creek chub

29. Striped shiner

31. Colorado squawfish

32. Common carp

33. Catostomidae - Suckers Shorthead redhorse

34. 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

35. Ictaluridae - Catfishes Black bullhead

39. 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

40. Esocidae - Pickerels Northern pike

41. 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.

45. Umbridae (Mudminnows) Central mudminnow

46. 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

47. Osmeridae - Smelts Rainbow smelt

48. 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

49. Salmonidae - Trout and Salmon Steelhead

50. 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