Tennessee River Fish Surveys 
117 
A total of 49 species were collected during three samples in 1981 
(Table 2). The most significant species collected was the undescribed 
“paleband” shiner, listed as threatened in Alabama (Ramsey 1984). A 
rare species, it was previously known only from the Little South Fork of 
the Cumberland River, Kentucky, and from a single preimpoundment 
collection from Cove Creek, Tennessee (tributary to Norris Reservoir, 
Clinch River drainage; Starnes and Etnier 1980). T. S. Janderbeur first 
collected this little-known shiner in the Paint Rock River in November 
1980. He collected specimens in six samples taken from RM 45.0 to RM 
60.0. In our study, a total of 15 specimens were collected in two of the 
three samples. 
The elegant madtom, Noturus elegans Taylor, was collected for the 
first time in the Paint Rock River during our study. Two specimens 
were collected in the April 1981 sample. Owing to its limited range in 
Alabama, N. elegans is listed as rare by Ramsey (1984). In recent years, 
researchers have been able to describe the range of N. elegans in Ala- 
bama more thoroughly. Its range has been reported recently by Ramsey 
(1976), Lee et al. (1980), and Ramsey (1984). Earlier workers reported 
no occurrences in Alabama (Smith-Vaniz 1968, Wall 1968), and Taylor 
(1969) reported only one questionable record. Ramsey (1984) gives the 
most recent distributional account for this species in Alabama as “one 
stream locality each in Franklin, Jackson, and Limestone Counties.” He 
does not, however, mention a 1969 TVA collection from Madison 
County, Alabama (Anonymous 1971). All the known occurrences in 
Alabama are from the Tennessee River drainage. 
A collection of an American eel, Anguilla rostrata (LeSueur), at 
this site is interesting. This fish has been found in the Tennessee River 
proper and in its larger tributaries (Lee et al. 1980), but is generally 
considered to inhabit only moderate to large streams (Pflieger 1975, 
Trautman 1981). The site where the eel was collected is 60 miles above 
the mouth of the Paint Rock, an unusual occurrence for this species. 
Elk River 
The one Elk River sample site (RM 91.4) is heavily influenced by 
tailwater releases from Tims Ford Reservoir (RM 133.3). The water 
fluctuates up to 1 m per day and is quite cold. Despite these adverse 
conditions, 44 species were collected in three sampling trips in 1981 
(Table 2). 
The most significant find was the ashy darter, Etheostoma cine - 
reum Storer, which is listed as in need of management in Tennessee 
(Starnes and Etnier 1980). A single specimen, taken in April, represents 
the first collection of this species from the Elk River. The discovery of a 
potential new population of E. cinereum in the Elk River is reassuring, 
for it appears to be declining in many other parts of its limited range 
(Shepard and Burr ‘1984). The specimen was collected at night, in a pool 
with moderate current, near a submerged log, by electrofishing into a 
seine. 
Another species taken in our samples and apparently rare in the 
