1 3 8 Mary L. Moser, Fred C. Rohde, Rudolf G. Arndt, 



and Keith W. Ashley 



gen concentration was 8.8 mg/L. A second Waccamaw River tributary, Shingle- 

 tree Swamp, yielded three juveniles on 18 November 1996, and three juveniles 

 and one adult on 1 1 April 1997. In addition, survey sampling with a boat elec- 

 troshocker produced five specimens in the Lumber River at the NC Route 711 

 bridge in Robeson County on 8 May 1995 (Fig. 1). Size range was 57-65 mm 

 SL. Four additional fish (48, 53, 60, and 78 mm TL) were collected with the boat 

 electroshocker from the Cape Fear River at rkm 76 on 24 January 1997. 



In South Carolina we collected 15 specimens of the brook silverside 

 from the Waccamaw River drainage and 26 specimens from the Lynches River 

 with a seine. Four specimens were taken on 27 May 1994 in the Waccamaw 

 River at Conway in Horry County. We took eight more fish from Kingston Lake 

 Swamp, a tributary of the Waccamaw River, near Conway, approximately 54 rkm 

 downstream of the North Carolina border, on 10-11 May 1994. Three specimens 

 were also collected in Stanley Creek, a tributary stream approximately 11.8 km 

 northeast of Conway on 18 March 1996. From 13-17 May 1996, we sampled 10 

 sites in the Lynches River, a tributary of the Pee Dee River. Brook silversides (n 

 = 26) were collected at five of these sites from the Route 403 bridge, Flo- 

 rence/Lee counties north to the Route 15 bridge, Kershaw/Darlington counties, a 

 distance of approximately 50 rkm. These localities fill in a gap between the pre- 

 viously known South Carolina records in the Santee River drainage and the new 

 North Carolina records (Rohde et al. 1994). 



Is the distribution of the brook silverside expanding, or has the species 

 been overlooked in North Carolina? The sites in the North Carolina portion of 

 the Waccamaw River, as well as other sites in this drainage, have been sampled 

 frequently by E. Menhinick, J. and P. Shute, Wildlife Resources Commission 

 biologists, and by F. Rohde. Twenty-nine collections were made by these biolo- 

 gists at the Waccamaw River site from 1979-1992, and 5 collections in Wet Ash 

 Swamp during 1961-1989. Since 1960, numerous other sites have been sampled 

 on multiple occasions with rotenone (39 sites), seines (38), and electroshockers 

 (10). This intensive sampling over time argues for an increase in brook silver- 

 side distribution. In addition, the fact that this species is fragile suggests that the 

 observed range expansion did not result from "bait-bucket" introductions. We 

 propose that the brook silverside has expanded its range northward and may be 

 longer lived than previously thought. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS- For assistance in field work we thank those students 

 too numerous to mention here individually from The Richard Stockton College 

 of New Jersey and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and Tom 

 Rachels of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. A. Braswell, North Car- 

 olina State Museum of Natural Sciences, answered questions on specimens in his 

 care. The Graphics Production Department of Stockton College, and L.M. 

 Neveu, helped to prepare the figures. This research was supported in part by a 



