118 
Joe C. Feeman, Jr. 
Elk River is the popeye shiner, Notropis ariommus. Only a few previous 
collections had found this species in the Elk River system, and our study 
yielded only two specimens. Jandebeur (1972) reported 10 individuals 
from two fifth-order streams in the Elk River system. The popeye shiner 
is rather rare in most of its range (Starnes and Etnier 1980); however, 
our results indicate that abundant populations still occur in portions of 
the Duck, Buffalo, Powell, and North Fork Holston rivers. 
Buffalo River 
The Buffalo River, largest tributary of the Duck River, remains a 
fairly constant size from the mouth up to our sampling site at RM 79.9. 
This site has areas of shifting sand, gravel, and silt substrate, intermixed 
with rubble, boulders, and bedrock. The flow is sluggish with several 
short riffles. Three samples during 1981 produced 59 species (Table 2). 
The most significant species collected in our samples on the Buffalo 
River was the coppercheek darter, Etheostoma aquali, which is threat- 
ened in Tennessee (Starnes and Etnier 1980). A total of 67 specimens of 
this darter were collected with May and June samples producing all but 
three of the total number collected. The large number of specimens 
taken during the May-June period could indicate the beginning of the 
spawning season, but little is known about the reproductive period of E. 
aquali. The similar spotted darter, Etheostoma maculatum Kirtland, 
spawns during this period on the underside of rocks in boulder riffle 
areas (Starnes and Etnier 1980). 
Another species that warrants mention is the blotchside logperch, 
Percina burtoni. A single specimen was taken in the June sample. 
Although the range of this species is rather widespread in the Cumber- 
land and Tennessee river drainages, it is not abundant at any locality 
(Starnes and Etnier 1980). Most workers consider silt and overall water 
quality degradation to be the limiting perturbations for this species 
(Starnes and Etnier 1980, Jenkins and Musick 1980). Because of these 
habitat requirements, P. burtoni is listed as in need of management in 
Tennessee (Starnes and Etnier 1980). 
In addition to our samples, P. Jolly caught a single specimen of the 
ashy darter, Etheostoma cinereum, on a hook and line, using a worm as 
bait. The fish was caught between day and night samples, just upstream 
from the sampling site. As noted earlier, E. cinereum is listed as in need 
of management in Tennessee (Starnes and Etnier 1980). 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. — This study was conducted with person- 
nel from TV A Field Operations, and the names of all those involved are 
too numerous to mention here. Gary Hickman was responsible for the 
fish collections and also provided manuscript review. Charles F. Saylor 
was a crew leader throughout the study and also assisted in identifica- 
tion of specimens in the laboratory. 
I thank D. A. Etnier, of The University of Tennessee, for his assist- 
ance in identification of difficult specimens and for his review of the 
