Waccamaw Drainage Fishes 15 



Centrarchidae — sunfishes 



Acantharchus pomotis (Baird), mud sunfish. This secretive species 

 was rarely encountered during our survey and was never collected from 

 Lake Waccamaw. Louder (1962a) reported it from a rotenone station 

 along the northeast shore of the lake, an area where feeder streams enter 

 and aquatic vegetation is abundant. We usually found it in areas of 

 standing water where submergent vegetation was extremely dense. Sta- 

 tions: 2b, 3, 8d, 9, 13, 15. 



Centrarchus macropterus (Lacepede), flier. Louder (1962a) re- 

 ported the flier from Lake Waccamaw. Bruce B. Collette (pers. comm.) 

 also collected an adult from the north shore of Lake Waccamaw in 

 1958. We collected no specimens from the lake, but found the species 

 throughout much of the rest of the drainage, where it preferred standing 

 or sluggish water, usually with an abundance of aquatic vegetation. Sta- 

 tions: 2b,c, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 28, 34, 38, 43. 



Elassoma evergladei Jordan, Everglades pygmy sunfish. Three spec- 

 imens of the Everglades pygmy sunfish, the first to be reported from 

 Lake Waccamaw, were collected from a swampy area on the southeast- 

 ern shore of the lake. Major populations appear to be confined mainly 

 to Juniper Creek and tributaries where it is often associated with an 

 undescribed pygmy sunfish. Specimens were usually collected from 

 weedy, shallow backwaters of small streams. Stations: Id, 17, 21, 23, 24, 

 25, 26, 30. 



Elassoma zonatum Jordan, banded pygmy sunfish. Louder (1962a) 

 reported this pygmy sunfish from Lake Waccamaw, where it was col- 

 lected with rotenone from dense vegetation along the northeast shore. 

 We did not find it in the lake, but specimens were commonly taken 

 from the surrounding canals and Big Creek. The species is common 

 throughout the system, except where replaced by E. evergladei and the 

 undescribed form. The habitat is similar to that of E. evergladei. Sta- 

 tions: 2a,b, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8a,b,c,d, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 19, 20, 22, 27b, 29c, 

 30, 33, 34, 38. 



Elassoma species, undescribed pygmy sunfish. This species, closely 

 related to E. zonatum (Bohlke and Rohde 1980), has only been collected 

 from two streams in the Waccamaw drainage. It is relatively common 

 throughout Juniper Creek, where its distribution and habitat closely 

 parallel those of E. evergladei. It is also collected regularly from one Big 

 Creek tributary (Station 2b), and has been taken once in the main 

 channel of Big Creek (Station 2c) and once at Station 2a. The absence 

 of this species from other streams within the system suggests a limited 

 distribution. Olmsted and Cloutman (1978) reported collecting an 

 undescribed Elassoma species from Black Creek (Pee Dee drainage) in 

 the Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge, South Carolina, but this report 

 appears to be based on misidentified E. zonatum (F. C. Rohde, pers. 

 comm.). Pygmy sunfish superficially resembling this species have been 



