48 Charles H. Hocutt, Robert F. Denoncourt, Jay R. Stauffer, Jr. 



Subsequent uplift of the area during the late Tertiary (Reger 1920) 

 revived the parent stream and caused rapid cutting which resulted in for- 

 mation of a great gorge, often incised 150 m or more into the Plateau. The 

 presence of a V-shaped lower valley, rather than U-shaped, indicates that 

 the river has not progressed far into its erosional cycle. Many tributaries 

 approach base-level maturation in their heads as well, but have 

 significantly increased gradients in their lower sections indicative of 

 Plateau uplift and stream rejuvenation (Reger 1920). For instance, 

 Meadow River, a major southern tributary, drops over 207 m in the last 

 18.5 km with an average gradient of 11.4 m/km (Reger 1921). 



The only previous systematic survey of the fishes of the Gauley River 

 was that of Addair (1944), who reported on 24 species. C.L. Hubbs, E.C. 

 Raney, and F.J. Schwartz made occasional collections in the drainage, 

 but did not publish their data. Reed's (1974) discussion of the fishery of a 

 portion of the drainage was limited primarily to game species. Jenkins et 

 al. (1972) reported some Gauley River records, but did not discuss the 

 fauna in detail. Ross and Perkins (1959) and Ross (1959) discussed fishes 

 of the New (upper Kanawha) River, but data presented by Jenkins et al. 

 (1972) are more recent. 



Zoogeographically, the Gauley River ichthyofauna is identified with 

 the New River drainage (Jenkins et al. 1972), i.e., that portion of the 

 Kanawha River drainage above the 7.3 m high Kanawha Falls (Denon- 

 court et al. 1975), which has been considered as a major barrier affecting 

 upstream dispersal of fishes (Jenkins et al. 1972; Lachner and Jenkins 

 1971). Endemism is reportedly high in the upper Kanawha (New/ Gau- 

 ley) River drainage (Hocutt et al. 1978), with the following fishes occur- 

 ring nowhere else: Nocomis platyrhynchus , Notropis scabriceps, Phenacobius 

 teretulus, Etheostoma kanawhae and E. osburni. Coitus carolinae ssp. (Robins 

 1954), long thought to be a New River endemic, is also known from one 

 spring in Jefferson County, Tennessee (Etnier, pers. comm). Exoglossum 

 laurae and Percina oxyrhyncha, species associated with the unique New River 

 fauna, have wider distributions than once thought (Jenkins et al. 1972; 

 Hocutt et al. 1978; Hocutt, in press). The form previously recognized as 

 Percina maculata in the upper Kanawha drainage is another endemic 

 species (E. Beckham, pers. comm.). 



Various localities within the Gauley River system have been proposed 

 by the Corps of Engineers, Huntington, W. Va., District, as potential 

 sites for location of hydroelectric facilities. Among these sites is a location 

 on the main-channel Gauley River at Swiss that would inundate much of 

 the lower gorge. Collison Creek and Muddlety Creek are among the alter- 

 nate sites. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, aware of our efforts to sur- 

 vey the streams of West Virginia (Hambrick et al. 1973; Denoncourt et al. 



