Blackside Dace 13 
Table 2. Streams previously reported to contain Phoxinus cumber landensis 
and from which the species apparently has been extirpated. 
Stream 
County, state 
Last reported 
Colliers Creek 
Letcher, Ky. 
1979 
Cloverlick Creek 
Harlan, Ky. 
1961 
Little Poplar Creek 
Knox, Ky. 
1976 
Louse Creek 
Campbell, Tenn. 
1979 
Trammel Creek 
Cambell, Tenn. 
1981 
Cane Creek 
Whitley, Ky. 
1977 
Marsh Creek 
McCreary, Ky. 
1981 
Ned Branch 
Laurel, Ky. 
1977 
Craig Branch 
Laurel, Ky. 
1977 
Coal mining, either by direct runoff or by secondary disturbances 
such as poor or inadequate roads and bridges and mine preparation and 
maintenance, appears to affect two important physical components of 
the blackside dace habitat, riparian vegetation and substrate. First, 
riparian vegetation, consisting of hemlock, rhododendron, ironwood, 
river birch, and sycamore, with canopy cover exceeding 70 percent of 
the stream is important. The significance of a natural, undisturbed 
riparian vegetational zone appears to be two-fold: in preventing elevated 
water temperature due to solar heating, and in providing submerged 
root systems that appear to be preferred cover. Healthy populations had 
access to extensive undercut, rooted banks. The riparian vegetational 
zone is often removed or significantly reduced during mine preparation 
and in road and bridge construction. Second, it is extremely important 
that the substrate consist of a cobble-gravel mix in riffles, a bedrock- 
boulder-silt combination in pools, and silt-free areas just downstream of 
the riffles. Coal-mining activities increased siltation, thus degrading this 
preferred substrate. 
CONCLUSIONS 
The continued existence of the rare and threatened P. cumberland- 
ensis appears to depend on a number of factors. Viable population 
clusters and improved habitat in adjacent streams are necessary for 
natural recolonization to occur. Further physical isolation of populations 
would only further jeopardize this species. It is to be hoped that 
protection under stringent federal and state regulations will improve the 
possibility for the continued existence of P. cumber landensis. 
