Distribution of Fishes 5 3 



Spotfin chub, Cyprinella monacha (Cope) 



The spotfin chub is endemic to the Tennessee River drainage in disjunct 

 populations from southwestern Virginia to northwestern Alabama and in the Buf- 

 falo River in central Tennessee (Jenkins and Burkhead 1984, Etnier and Starnes 

 1994). It has apparently been extirpated from Alabama and Georgia (Etnier and 

 Starnes 1994). In North Carolina it is restricted to a 16.8 rkm section of the Lit- 

 tle Tennessee River in Macon and Swain counties (Alderman 1987). We col- 

 lected and released 27 spotfin chub in this river at Needmore in Swain County 

 (Fig. 1) on 25 September 1993. Three previous North Carolina records, two 

 from the French Broad River system (1888) and one from the Tuckaseegee River 

 (1940), apparently represent now extirpated populations (Menhinick 1986). We 

 did not take it in 36 collections in the French Broad River system, and we con- 

 cur with Menhinick (1986) that it has been extirpated from this drainage. Its sta- 

 tus of threatened in North Carolina appears to be conservative. 



Striped shiner, Luxilus chrysocephalus Rafinesque 



The striped shiner is common in the southern Great Lakes basin from 

 western New York and southeastern Wisconsin south through much of the Mis- 

 sissippi River basin almost to the Gulf of Mexico (Page and Burr 1991). A dis- 

 junct population was discovered in the Cane River, Yancey County, North Car- 

 olina in 1980 by E. Menhinick, and soon thereafter it was known from five sites 

 in the Cane River system (Menhinick 1986). We found it in four sites in 14.5 

 rkm of the middle reach of the Cane River and in two tributaries, Bald and Indi- 

 an creeks (Fig. 6), in 1994. Numbers taken per our collections ranged from 2- 

 23. Specimens ranged from 29-107 mm TL. Tennessee Valley Authority biolo- 

 gists took 61 individuals in one collection in the Cane River in 1992 (E. Scott, 

 personal communication, 1994) (Fig. 6). Preferred habitat was pools and runs. 

 Current ranged from 0.39-0.57 m/sec, pH 7.0-7.5, and dissolved oxygen concen- 

 tration 6.8-8.4 ppm. Its status of threatened in North Carolina is warranted. 



Banded sculpin, Cottus carolinae (Gill) 



The banded sculpin inhabits mountainous areas of the Mississippi River 

 basin from West Virginia west to Kansas and from the Ozark Mountains south- 

 east to southern Alabama (Page and Burr 1991). In North Carolina it was report- 

 ed only from Big Laurel and Spring creeks, Madison County (Robins 1954). 

 Menhinick (1986) later reported it as restricted to the main stream of the French 

 Broad River in North Carolina near the Tennessee line and absent from the two 

 creeks. E. Menhinick (personal communication, 1994) took two adults and eight 

 juveniles with rotenone in the downstream-most 100 m of Shut-in Creek, Madi- 

 son County, North Carolina in July 1994 (Fig. 7). We did not collect it at two 

 upstream-sites in this creek in 1994. However, we did take 58 specimens in two 

 collections made on 14 May and 19 July 1994 throughout the lower 300 m of 



