Endangered Roanoke Logperch Found In North Carolina
The Roanoke logperch, one of the largest darters in the Perch family, was thought to live only in portions of the Roanoke and Chowan River basins of Virginia. However, biologists with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, the Division of Water Quality and the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences found two populations of the fish in the Mayo and Smith rivers earlier this summer.
The search for the Roanoke logperch started by accident in 2007 after Duke Power biologists happened upon a lone specimen while sampling the Dan River, just downstream of the Smith River, near Eden. Another sampling effort later in 2007 produced only one more specimen leading biologists to hypothesize that both fish were either washed downstream from Virginia’s Smith River population during a previous high-flow event or that drought conditions may have caused the two fish to move downstream.
On July 8, they captured three logperches while surveying a short reach in the Mayo River, a large tributary of the Dan River in Rockingham County, and a few weeks later, biologists found 10 Roanoke logperches in the Smith River in Rockingham County, ranging in size from 2.5 inches to 7 inches.
“The size range of the fish found in the Smith River indicates that several age classes exist, which means that there is most likely a reproducing population of Roanoke logperches in the river,” said Chris Wood, aquatic biologist with the Commission. [Via]
Pic via here.
