occur elsewhere in the state and the Lake Phelps site represents 

 the southernmost occurrence in its range which extends through 

 the New England states into the Maritime Provinces (Aiken 1981) . 



Both Eriocaulon pellucidum and Sagittaria sp. ( teres or 

 isoetiformis) are listed as significantly rare plants in North 

 Carolina and are known in the state from only a few scattered 

 localities (N. C. Plant Protection Program, 1982, Cooper et al, 

 1977). The Sagittaria , because of an unclear taxonomic status, 

 has not been determined to species as of this writing. 



The marsh vegetation along the south shore is a significant 

 breeding area for many of the game and non-game fish living in 

 the lake. The state endangered Waccamaw Killifish is known to 

 occur on earth only from Lakes Waccamaw and Phelps (Cooper et 

 al , 1977) . The specimens at Lake Phelps have been found to 

 differ slightly from the Lake Waccamaw specimens in some 

 respects. This slight differentiation in the two disjunct 

 populations tends to lessen the possibility that the Waccamaw 

 Killifish was accidentally introduced by man into Lake Phelps 

 (Lindquist and Yarbrough 1981) . Habitat for the killifish is 

 reported to be shallow, sandy shores vegetated with dense 

 stands of Panicum hemitomon ( op . cit . 1981) . The natural 

 area in all likelihood provides critical habitat for this 

 endangered fish. 



The marsh is not dense enough to provide suitable nesting 

 and feeding cover for marsh birds, although some species such 

 as bitterns, rails, and herons, undoubtedly use the area during 

 migration. 



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