Fishes of the Waccamaw River Drainage 



John R. Shute \ Peggy W. Shute l and David G. Lindquist 



Department of Biology, 



University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 



Wilmington, North Carolina 28406 



ABSTRACT.— From 1976 through February 1981, we made 827 col- 

 lections of fishes from 75 stations in Lake Waccamaw and the Wac- 

 camaw River and tributaries; they yielded a total of 56 species from 18 

 families. Additional records increased the probable total to 62 species. 

 At least five of the Waccamaw species are endemic or exclusively 

 shared with one other drainage. These aspects of the Waccamaw indi- 

 cate that it is unique among Atlantic Coastal Plain drainage systems. 

 Geological and zoogeographical evidence suggest that the Waccamaw 

 River once drained a larger area extending into the inner Coastal Plain 

 and Piedmont. Uplifting of the Cape Fear Fault resulted in piracy of 

 the Waccamaw headwaters, creating the present Cape Fear drainage. 

 Faunal resemblances between the drainages lend support to this theory. 



INTRODUCTION 



Since the description of the Waccamaw killifish, Fundulus 

 waccamensis, silverside, Menidia externa, and darter, Etheostoma per- 

 longum, by Hubbs and Raney (1946), Lake Waccamaw, North Carol- 

 ina, has been the subject of both biological and physiographical studies 

 (Frey 1948a,b, 1949, 1951) alluding to the relatively high level of fish 

 diversity and endemism. Louder (1962a) provided a checklist of fishes 

 and Hueske (1948) discussed fishery resources. Four species from the 

 lake have been subjects of biological studies: Notropis petersoni (Davis 

 and Louder 1971); F. waccamensis (Shute et al., ms.); M. extensa (Davis 

 and Louder 1969); and E. perlongum (Lindquist et al. 198 1 ; Shute et al., in 

 press). 



Apart from those of the lake, the fishes of the Waccamaw drainage 

 have received little attention. Louder (1962b) included the Waccamaw 

 drainage in a survey of the Lumber and Shallotte River drainage in 

 North Carolina, and the major purpose of his survey was to evaluate the 

 recreational fishery potential. Fowler (1935) reported on several collec- 

 tions from the Waccamaw drainage in South Carolina. 



The Waccamaw is unique among Atlantic coastal drainages. Its 

 overall fish diversity is quite high and includes a number of endemics 

 and forms shared with but one other drainage. Presently two undes- 

 cribed species of fish are known to occur within the Waccamaw drain- 



1 Present address: Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Ten- 

 nessee, Knoxville, TN 37916. 

 Direct reprint requests to DGL. 



Brimleyana No. 6: 1-24. December 1981. 1 



