110 Dan A. Cincotta, et al. 



Taylor (1969) and Rohde (1980a) reported that in the Ohio River 

 drainage N. stigmosus prefers large creeks and rivers with bottoms of 

 shifting sand and mud, and water varying from clear to turbid with 

 moderate current. The 0.85 hahabitat sampled in the Tug Fork con- 

 sisted primarily of riffles with boulders (30%) and rubble (70%) and a 

 long pool of primarily sand bottom. The water was turbid, and flows in 

 the 30.48-m-wide channel were 4.8 to 5.9 cm/ second. Water quality 

 parameters recorded with a Hach kit at the time of the sampling were: 

 pH (7.6), Fe (.18 mg/ 1), alkalinity (160 mg/ 1 as CaCo^, conductivity (68 

 micromhos/cm), and water temperature (14.4 °C). This area of the river 

 is known to experience repeated load violations regarding organic sus- 

 pended solids (i.e., domestic sewage) and iron (Steele and McCoy 1980). 



Lepomis microlophus (Giinther), redear sunfish 



Lee (1980) considered this species native to the Mississippi, south- 

 ern Atlantic slope, and Gulf slope drainages from Florida to Texas. In 

 the immediate vicinity of West Virginia, the redear sunfish was collected 

 from the main channel Ohio River and the Big Sandy River in Ken- 

 tucky (Clay 1975, Burr 1980, Lee 1980), and the Monongahela River in 

 Pennsylvania (Jenkins et al. 1972, Lee 1980, Stauffer et al. 1982). 

 Denoncourt et al. (1975) listed the redear sunfish as expected, but Miles 

 (1971) regarded it as present in West Virginia based on WVWR records 

 (Anon. 1950, Menendez and Robinson 1964). Other evidence support- 

 ing its existence in the state comes from the Ohio River sampling sum- 

 mary of Preston and White (1978; some L. microlophus specimens veri- 

 fied by M. L. Trautman, pers. comm.) and Trautman (1981). These 

 authors found the species generally infrequent in its introduced range in 

 the upper Ohio River. 



Percina gymnocephala Beckham, Appalachia darter 



This endemic upper Kanawha River species was recently described 

 by Beckham (1980). He discussed its relationship to P. maculata and P. 

 peltata. The Appalachia darter appears to be more closely aligned with 

 P. peltata, which is confined to Atlantic slope drainages. Percina gym- 

 nocephala has been recently collected in West Virginia by Hocutt et al. 

 (1978, 1979; in review), Stauffer et al. (1975, 1980), and WVWR (67, 70, 

 108, 156). These data indicate the species is widely distributed through- 

 out the upper Kanawha River system in West Virginia, but is usually 

 not abundant. 



Percina peltata peltata (Stauffer), shield darter 



This darter is known to inhabit streams of the Atlantic slope from 

 New York to North Carolina (Malick 1980). Geographic variation in 

 the species was reported in Raney and Suttkus (1948) as P. p. peltata 



