115 
Tennessee River Fish Surveys 
large areas of sand and gravel, and an average width of approximately 
55 m. Faunal compostion reflects these differences. The upstream site 
(RM 85.3) produced 32 species, whereas the lower site (RM 6.2) had 38. 
Fishes considered to be large-river species and absent from the upstream 
site were: popeye shiner, Notropis ariommus\ bullhead minnow, Pime- 
p hales vigilax\ mountain madtom, Noturus eleutherus Jordan; and gilt 
darter, Percina evides (Jordan and Copeland). Although only three 
specimens of the banded darter, Etheostoma zonale, were taken 
upstream, 73 were collected at the lower site. 
The most significant species collected in North Fork samples was 
the spotfin chub, Hybopsis monacha (Cope). A single specimen was 
taken over sand and gravel substrate at RM 6.2. This rare chub (listed 
as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) is known from this 
site by several previous collections by Jenkins and Burkhead (1984) and 
Feeman (1986). 
Several other species taken in our samples are considered of special 
concern in Virginia (Jenkins and Musick 1980): popeye shiner, Notropis 
ariommus\ bluebreast darter, Etheostoma camurum ; and tangerine dar- 
ter, Percina aurantiaca. 
Copper Creek 
Copper Creek is a medium-sized tributary to the upper Clinch 
Rfver (CRM 211.6). Visual examination of this stream is misleading. It 
appears to be a typical tributary of this region and would not be 
expected to have an unusual fauna. Yet, compared to other Clinch trib- 
utaries this stream has a much more diverse fish fauna, including several 
rare and sensitive species. A total of 43 species were identified from our 
three samples at river mile 1.9 (Table 2). 
The species of most significance collected in our samples was the 
yellowfin madtom, Noturus flavipinnis, which is listed as threatened by 
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Owing to the status of this fish, 
Copper Creek is designated as critical habitat for N . flavipinnis (Federal 
Register 1977). We collected three specimens in the May 1981 sample, 
but two subsequent collecting trips in June and July failed to produce 
additional specimens. The three specimens collected were taken along 
the bank, in pool and backwater areas similar to habitat described for 
this species by Jenkins (1975) and Taylor et al. (1971). 
Recent collections by Burkhead and Jenkins (1982) have indicated 
a decline in the Copper Creek population of this species. It was taken in 
numerous collections from 1969 through 1972, but recently has been 
difficult to collect (Burkhead and Jenkins 1982). The cause of this sus- 
pected decline has not been determined. 
Another sensitive species collected in our Copper Creek samples 
was the undescribed “duskytail” darter, Etheostoma ( Catonotus ) sp. 
Because of its restricted range and vulnerability to siltation, the dusky- 
tail darter is listed as threatened in both Virginia and Tennessee (Jen- 
kins and Musick 1980, Starnes and Etnier 1980). A total of 24 speci- 
mens (13 in May, 9 in June, and 2 in July) were collected during the 
