TPWD 1954 F-3-R-1 #81: Job Completion Report: Inventory of Fish Species in the Sabine River, Gregg County, Texas, 1953–1954

STATE Texas 4‘””‘ PROJECT N0. F~3—B—l, Job B-6 PERIOD July 1, 1953 - May 1, 195% Job Completion Report by Robert J. Kemp, Jr. iOBJECTIVES To determine the distribution of the species present, their relative abundance and the ecological factors influencing their distribution. METHODS A total of 61 collections were made at five stations on the Sabine River in Gregg County during this study. There were 25 seining collections made with a 26 x 6 ft. bag seine. Thirty-three hoop nets with l to 3 inch mesh were set and three 1% inch mesh gill n , 100 x 8 ft. were set. Seining and gill net collections were made at low and nor” mai water periods. 300p net sets were made during "rises" in March, April and.May, 1954. Seined specimens were preserved in 10% formalin and brought into the laboratory for identification and counting. Hoop and gill net specimens were identified, counted and weighed in the field. A total count of all specimens collected was made and percentages of the total of each species calculated. Temperature, pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide and chlorides were determined at each station after proper equipment became available and ecological condi~ tions were Observed in conjunction with Job A-2 (Basic Survey.) The five localities selected as collection stations were chosen for habitat and easy accessability. Station #1, located approxinateyone-half mile above Highway 1A9 bridge, is shallow, fast water. The bottom is gravel and rock; shore line is rocky with high clay banks; iwater depth normally six to twenty-four inches; the river is approximately 120 ft. wide 'at this point; there is no aquatic vegetation present at this station. Station #2, located approximately two miles south of Highway 26, is moderately fast water. The bottom is bedurock strewn with boulders; the shoreline is rocky, with steeply sloping clay banks; water depth normally six to 36 inches; the river is approximately 90 ft..wide at this point; aquatic vegetation at this station is willow. Twenty - three species were collected here. 2. Station #3, located at Highway 26 bridge, is moderately fast water. The bet. 1 is sand; shore line is sand and clay with low clay'banks; water depth normally six inches to six ft; river approximately 75 feet wide at this point; aquatic vegetation present at this station is willow and button bush; Station 3 is located on a sand her running alongside a deep portion of the river; this is the best of the collecting stem tions, with 3h species collected here. Station #t located just below the Highway 259 bridge, is deep, slow, runing water. The bottom is silt; shoreline is sand and silt, with steeply sloping sand and silt banks; water depth zero up to 15 ft; no aquatic vegetation present at this stae tion. Seining very difficult due to the steep banks and depth. The river is approx- imately 100 ft. wide here. There were only 17 species collected here. Station #5, located just above the Highway Bridge 271, is fairly slow rune ning water. The bottom is sand and silt; shore line is sand and silt with gently slop— ing banks; river is approximately 75 ft. wide at this point; aquatic vegetation prssu out is mostly scattered willow; There were 28 species collected at this station. RESULTS There were #6 different species of fish taken in all methods of collection. Table No. 1 lists each species and the locflities where each was found. Ten of the #6 species were found at all five stations. Twelve species were found at only one stae tion each. Seining collections produced 2,139 specimens and thirty nine different species. Table No. 2 gives the results of the seining, showing the numbers of each species found at each station and the total and percent of each species. The most abun— 6 1 species in the seining collections were the red Shiner (16.6%); the mosquito fish (in.9%); emerald shiner (11.1%); Texas shiner (10.7%). Each remaining species made up less than 10% of the total catch. Heep net collections took 37 specimens, including 12 species. Five of these species, the black bullhead, channel cat, flathead cat, drum and carp, were not taken by any other means. Table No. 3 gives the location, numbers and weights of each spew cies taken in hoop nets. Three 1% inch mesh gill nets were set in the deep water at Station #h, but the catch was only 8 long~nose gar weighing lh.5 pounds. Commercial fishermen report the most common fish taken by them in hoop nets are drum, carp, and buffalo. However, no buffalo were taken in hoop nets during this study. The lamprey listed in the checklist was taken by a commercial fisherman, who reported lampreys to be very numerous. SUMMARY 1) The field work of this job was done in conjuction with Job A~2 (Basie sot- vey) of Sabine River in Gregg County. 2) Sixty—one collections were made at five different stations with seines, gill nets and hoop nets. 3) 2,18M specimens collected included #6 different species. A) Minnows made up the bulk of the seining collections. Game species Gen- tiarchids) made up approximately 8% of the seining collections. 5) Hoop nets and gill nets caught only #5 specimens, but included 7 species not taken seining. 6) Commercial fishermen reported drum, carp and buffalo their most common catch. Table No. Name of Species Scientific 20 3. 10. 1] 12. 13. 11+. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 25. Ichthymyzon castaneus Lepisosteus osseus Lepisosteus productus Dorosoma cepedianum Dorosoma petenensis Mugil cephalus Ictiobus bubalus Minytrema melanops Cyprinus carpio Notemigonus crysoleucas Opsopoeodus emiliae Phenocobius mirabilis Notropis atherinoides Notropis percobromus Notropis amabilis Notropis fumeus Notropis chalybeus Notropis roseus Notropis sabinae Notropis venustus Notropis lutrensis NotrOpis deliciosus Notropis atrocaudalis Notropis volucellus Hybognathus nuchalis Common Chestnut lamphrey Longnose gar Spotted gar Gizzard shad Threadfin shad Striped mullet Smallmouth buffalo Spotted sucker Carp Golden Shiner Pugnose minnow Suckermouth minnow Emerald shiner Plains shiner Texas Shiner Ribbon Shiner Ironcolor shiner Central weed shiner Longnose shiner Blacktail shiner Red Shiner Sand shiner Blackspot Shiner Mimic shiner Silver minnow 1 Species Distribution Checklist #1 Stations #2 #3 #5 M 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33» 31+. 35» 36. 37— 3o. 39. to. 1+1. #2. 43. an. 15. 116. Pimephales vigilax Ameiurus melas Ictalurus punctatus Pilodictus olivaris Fundulus notatus Gambusia affinis Labidesthes sicculus MicrOpterus punctulatus Micropterus salmoides h. Table No. 1 (continued) Parrot minnow Black bullhead Channel cat Flathead eat Blackstripe tepminnow Mosquitofish Brook silversides Spotted bass Largemouth bass Chaenobryttus coronarius warmouth Lepomis punctatus Lepomis macrochirus Lepomis auritus Lepomis megalotis Lepomis microlophus Pomoxis annularis Pomoxis nigromaculatus Centrarchus macropterus Ammocrypta vivax Etheostoma gracile Aplodinotus grunniens Spotted sunfish Bluegill Yellow‘belly Longear Redear White crappie Black crappie Flier Arkansas sand darter Western swamp darter Drum 5. Table No. 2 - Seining Results By Station Species Station Station Station Station Station Total n of 1 2 3 4 5 Total Seining Collect. 1. Spotted gar 0 0 1 0 0 1 .3 2. Gizzard shad u 6 2n 0 11 A5 2.1 3. Threadfin shad O h 0 O O t 0.2 u. Striped mullet 0 0 0 o 1 1 _ 3 5. Smallmouth buffalo 1 1 0 o 0 2 0.1 6. Spotted sucker o 0 o 0 2 2 0.1 7. Golden Shiner ' 5 0 o 0 1 6 0.3 8. Pugnose minnOW' 1 O l O O 2 0.1 9. Suckermouth minnow O 0 11 O h 15 0.7 10 Emerald Shiner A7 70 60 2 58 237 11.1 11. Plains Shiner 0 1 5 0 0 6 0.3 12. Texas Shiner 71 2h #2 37 5k 228 10.7 13. Ribbon Shiner O O h 0 O h 0.2 14. Ironcolor Shiner 11 O 8 h 0 23 1.1 15. Central weed Shiner . 11 53 21 8 19 112 5.2 16. Longnoee Shiner 0 0 15 0 3 18 0.8 17. Blacktail Shiner o u 8 0 7 19 0.9 18. Red Shiner 153 5h 101 5 A2 355 16.6 19. Sand Shiner u o 53 0 9 66 3.1 20. Blackspot Shiner 16 0 11 8 0 35 1.6 21. Mimic Shiner 0 o 1 o 0 1 — 22. Silvery minnow 60 20 10 3 5h 1M7 6.9 23. Parrot minnow 7 0 10h 1 26 138 o.u _2h. Blackstripe topminnow 6O 42 #5 21 27 195 9.1 .11l_______H________1__1__1____m___m_________1__H______1____n____________w_"_ww_fl_____ 6. Table No. 2 - Continued _a_________1_l_________________1_____l________________________1___1_________“1____ml__fl_wmmm__n 25. Mosquitofish 62 122 36 #9 7 276 12.9% 26. Brook silversides h 1 2 2 O 9 0.h 27. Spotted bass 1 1 2 0 33 37 1.7 28. Largemouth bass 4 1 6 l 7 19 0.9 29. Warmouth 3 0 .1 2 0 6 0.3 I 30. Spotted sunfish 0 0 5 0 0 5 0.2 31. Bluegill 12 1 23 0 2 38 1.8 32. Yellowbelly sunfish 1 0 2 h 25 32 1.5 33. Longear sunfish 2 0 9 0 15 26 1.2 3h. Bedear 0 0 2 O 0 2 0.1 35. White crappie 5 1 O 3 0 9 0.h 36. Black crappie T 2 2 1 0 12 0.6 37. Flier O O 1 O O 1 - - 38. Arkansas sand darter 0 0 0 0 l 1 u a 39. western swamp darter 2 1 1 O 0 a 0.2 Totals 2,139 100.0% 7. Table Number 3 Hoop Net Results . Stations __.._..___-n.... .- Total””"“ Species #1 #2 #3 #5 ‘#5 Sp. gar 0 0 1—1 1b, 04 oz. 0 0 1e1 lb. 05 on. B. bullhead 0 1—0 1b. 03 on, 0 0 1—01b, 06 on. 2-0 lb. 09 on. Ch. Cat 0 1—0 1b. 05 oz 0 0 2—01b. 10 on. 3-0 1b. 15 oz. Flathead 0 1-2 1b. 09 oz 0 0 0 1-2 It. 09 oz. B. Crappie 0 2—0 1b. 08 oz 1-0 lb. 2 on. 0 1—01b. 08 oz. eel lb. 02 on. W. Crappie 0 0 2-0 1b. 13 oz. 0 3u01b. 15 02. 5-1 It. 12 oz. Drum 0 2-0 lb. 06 oz 2-0 1b. 12 oz. 0 2-0 1b.05 on. 6—21b. 07 oz. Bluegill 0 1—0 lb. 02 oz. 0 0 0 1-01b. 02 oz. Carp 0 0 1-1 1b.08 oz 0 0 1-1 1b. 08 on. lgear 0 o 0 0 6—0 lb. 1h oz. 6-0 1b. 1b oz. Shad o 0 2- 01b. 10 on. 0 4-2 1b. 06 oz. 6-3 lb. 00 oz. warmouth 0 0 0 0 1~0 lb. 03 oz. 1—0 It. 03 oz. an OZ. Total 37 1 16 1b. 31.1.. >538 saw me «than... 2. >5. _ {Ill—I {Ila I; ill [trill-Iii; ...:- IIIlln... lii‘llod... all ail-i EifiilrulnEJE EJEEEIEEE OHIBI—L aflllflu 9..— 3m. nil. I... I... ”v.1“! >w>m3m 02—22615 >SSID.I No.3lwhdhm a! 9!...8 i»: . modom 9.5:."— m0 Baum—3m Noam—2200 m0 hszFw—damo .mj "h I»... lO-b‘KUlOB I- . hzwzhmdmwo £55.10...— whdhm dem... at: i as! qum._. >FZDOO oommo n32 ><319I 44mmzm0 =1. .... NEDuJ—c. _ 02 Fun:— -l— 0 Sit again addo aaaaaaa rr I59. . I = a .- .. _ ll . I. I _...: ' . - -1 "I'u . 5 . - | + r _ “a ImmOCHEII 1 "Iii—W" ...... qua-9.313?)