TPWD 1953 F-9-R-1 #8: Inventory of Species Present and Their Distribution in the Devil's River, Val Verde Co., Texas

--- Page 1 --- STATE Texas PROJECT NO.F-9-R-1, Job B-O B-6 PERIOD July 1, 1953 - June 30, T1953 - dune 30) 1954 Segment Completion Report William H. Brown Project Leader TITLE Inventory of species present and their distribution in those portions of the Devil's River, excluding Devil's Lake and Lake Walk which lie within Val Verde Co., Texas. OBJECTIVES To determine the distribution of the species present and their relative abun- dance as well as the ecological factors influencing their distribution. COOPERATING AGENCIES University of Texas (Department of Zoology, Dr. Clark Hubbs) Central Power and Light Co. METHODS A total of 16 fish collections were made at 12 different stations on the Dev- il's River. The collections consisted of 15 seining collections and 1 gill net collection. The seining collections were made wth the following seines: 30' x 6! x _" straight seine; 26" x 6' x ¢" bag seine; common sense seines, 4' deep by 1/8" mesh with lengths varying from four to ten feet. The one gill net collection was made with an experimental, nylon gill net, 8 x 125 ft., consisting of 25 ft. sections ranging from one to three inches in mesh ilies and graduated in one-half inch inter- vals. All mesh sizes are given as square mesh sizes. 7 Field water analyses, including sir and water temperatures, pH, dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, alkalinity and chlorides were. made at seven stations on the Devil's River. Cooperation of Dr. Clark Hubbs, Department of Zoology, University of Texas, in the verification and identification of many fish species was greatly appreciated. All seining collections were preserved in 10% formalin and brought to the labora- tory for verification and tabubtion. . Work on this job was greatly hampered by the late arrival of waders during the cold winter months, lack of sufficient time for job, and more directly by the inaccessibility of the river. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS The flowing portion of the Devil's River is entirely within the Edwards Plat- eau in Val Verde County, Texas. Johnson Creek in Crockett County and the Dry Devil's River in Val Verde County are normally only dry draws but they carry tremendous amounts of flood waters to the Devil's River during moderate to heavy rains on the watershed. The perennial portion of the river begins at Pecan Springs on the Hudspeth River Ranch, approximately 4.5 air miles southwest of Juno and flows approximately --- Page 2 --- 26 thirty-five miles in a southeasterly to southern direction to its convergence with the Rio Grande River, approximately six air miles southwest of Del Rio. The river has several lerge springs and several thousand small springs along its entire course and is characterized by a rather large volume of flowing, slightly turbid to perfectly clear, water. The river has high limestone canyon walls along much of its course. The stream bed is several hundred feet wide in places and mostly lime- stone bedrock. However, there are numerous deep pools with gravel and rubble bot~- toms with slight to heavy silt deposits in some areas. The watershed is mostly roliing to rugged limestone hills with a thin soil cover. There is very little grass cover due to overgrazing and recent years of drouth. The present vegetation consists of thorny brush species and semi-arid to arid plants. The nature of the watershed causes small "flash floods" as well as major floods during periods of only moderate rain. There are three impoundments on the Devil's River, all built and owned by the Central Power and Light Co. The smallest dam, located approximately one mile above the mouth of the river, is only about six feet deep and furnishes water to the Central Power and Light Steam Plant. The two larger dams, Lake Walk ad Devil's Lake, approximately six and eight miles respectively northwest of Del Rio are hydro- electric dams. Lake Walk is 250 surface acres and Devil's Lake is 440 surface acres. Both are shallow lakes, less than 50 feet deep. Detailed information regarding the physical aspects of the Devil's River may be found in Job A-l, Segment Completion Report. CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS A key to the water analysis stations is included in Table 1. The stations are also located on the map accompanying this report. The results of these water analyses may be found in Table 2. The water temperature ranged from 69 F in Noven- ber to 82°F n September, The average temperature for the seven analyses was 76.19F . Most the springs have a constant, year-round temperature near 72°F. ‘The air temperature ranged from 96°F in July to 75°F in October and November. ‘The pH of the river ranged from 7.2 to 8.7 with an average of 8.4. Most of the spring wat- ers have a low pH near 7.2. The dissolved oxygen of the river varied from 3.2 to 8.6 with an average of 6.5 parts per million. The carbon dioxide ranged from 0.5 to 29.0 with an average of 7.5 parts per million. The spring areas consistently give the higher carbon dioxide readings. The total alkalinity, due entirely to bi- carbonate alkalinity, varied from 155 to 220 with an average of 191 parts per mil- lion. The chloride content ranged from 17.7 to 42.6 with an average of 33.4 parts per million. There is a slight turbidity present in certain areas of the river, especally at Station 3 and downstream near the Rio Grande River. However, the tur- bidity is so low in the majority of the stream tht it. can not be recorded with a Jackson turbidimeter. RESULTS OF FISH COLLECTIONS A key to the fish collection stations may be found in Table 1, A total of 16 collections were made at 12 different locations on the River. These 16 collec- tions consist of 15 seining collections and one gill net collection. Table 3 con~ tains a checklist of fish species for the Devil's River and Table 4 gives the num- ber of each species collected at each station. A total of 6,760 fish specimens were collected. This total contains 28 species and one hybrid, representing 10 families. The fish fauna of the Devil's River is typical of that of the Rio Grande River Drainage below the mouth of the Devil's River. The number of species present is much lower than that of streams of the eastern portion of the State. Two new species were discovered as the result of this investigation. One, a new cyrinodont, Cyprinodon specdes is to be described by Dr. Reeve Bailey of the Uniy ersity oi Mich- igan. The other, a new cyprinid, Dionda species is to be desribed by Dr. Clark Hubbs --- Page 3 --- 3. and the author. The minnow species are most abundant in the Devil's River, espec- ially Notropis venustus, the spottail shiner, and Dionda episcopa, the roundnose minnow. The spottail shiner is found throughout the entire river, but the round- nose minnow is found only in the immediate vicinity of springs. The game species are Pound throughout the entire stream and provide good to excellent fishing in the deeper pools of water. The following fishes are found only in the spring areas or they are closely associated with the spring waterg: Dionda episcopa ~- roundnose minnow Dionda species - new species Cyprinodon species ~ new species Lepomis punctatus - spotted sunfish Cichlasoma cyanoguttata ~ Rio Grande perch The Rio Grande tetra is found throughout the entire river but its abundance is no doubt due to the large volume of flowing spring water. The river carpsucker may be considered as numerous in the river. Several species are closely associated with rapids and fast flowing waters. They include the proserpine shiner, the red- spot darter and the Rio Grande shiner. The spottail shiner is much more numerous in the swifter waters. Many of the species collected are different sub-species from those cf the central and eastern portions of the State but they have not been recorded as such in this report. SUMMARY 1. A total of 16 fish eollections, including 15 seining collections and 1 gill net collection were made at 12 different locations on the Devil's River. A total of 7 field water analyses were made at seven different locations on the river. 2. The water temperature ranged from 69°F in November to 82°F in September with an average temperature of 76.1°R. The spring waters had a rather constant tem- perature near 72°F. The pH ranged from 7.2 to 8.7 with an average of 8.4. ‘The spring waters had a rather constant pH near 7.2. The dissolved oxygen varied from 3.2 to 8.6 with an average of 6.5 parts per million. The sarbon dioxide varied from 0.5 to 29.0 with an averme of 7.5 parts per million. The springs have high carbon dioxide readings. The total alkalinity, due entirely to bicarbonate alka~ linity, ranged from 155 to 220 with an average of 191 parts per million. The tur~ bidity of the stream is normally very low, below the recording limits of a Jackson Turbidimeter. 3. A total of 6,760 fish were collected, representing 10 families, 28 spe- cies and one hybrid. Two new fish species were discovered as the result of this investigation. The presence of numerous springs and the constant rather high rate of flow of the river seem to be the most important factors effecting the distribue tion of the fish species. i, Minnow species are most numerous in the river and the game species are widely distributed and furnish good to excellent fishing in most of the stream, --- Page 4 --- -Table 1. ey to Seining and Water Analysis Stations on the Devil's River. Location™ \J 16s LL. 12. dbs Given as approximate air miles. Seining Collection No. DR-S-6 DR=5=-3 DR-S-2, DR-S-1} DR-S-1O DR-S-15 DR-S-7, DR-S-1le DR-S-11 DR-S-1, DR-S-9 DR-S-8 DR-S-13 DR-S-4, DR-GN-1 DR-S=5 Devil's River, at headwaters, Pecan Springs, Hudspeth Ranch, 124 miles north of Comstock, Val Verde Co. Devil's River, 104 miles north of Comstock, Val Verde, Co. Devil's River, at Baker's Crossing, State Highway 163, 94 miles north of Comstock, Val Verde County. Devil's River at Indian Creek Can- yon, Lucious Hines Ranch, 11 miles Northeast of Comstock, Val Verde Co. Devil's River, + mile below mouth of Dry Devil's River, Wal Verde Co. Devil's River, 4 mile above head of Devil's Lake, Val Verde County. Devil's River, ¢ mile above head of Devil's Lake, Val Verde County Devil's River, at U. S. Highway 90 Bridge, Val Verde County. California Creek, Castle Canyon, be-~ low U. S. Highway 90 Bridge, Val Verde County. Devil's River at railroad bridge, 2 miles below Station 8, Val Verde Co. Devil's River at Central Power and Light Steam Plant, 1 mile above mouth of river, Val Verde Co., Texas. Devil's River, 300 yards above junc- tion with Rio Grande River, Val Verde County. --- Page 5 --- *prqiy *° pow pFqang AT -74STTS AreA *prqang JUusTTS *TeeToO r3a.emM “prqiny * po AQTPTQ -anq. 74STS sSutads BUTAOTL syremay H°C€ G°ce 6° Se page ei G°SE 9° ot mdd sepTtsoT yo T6L SLT SST ELT S0¢ St2 L6T Ode mudd S°h Ore 0°Z S*O G°e S°0 O° HT 0°62 add AQTUTTeYLTVY epTxXotd Te40L.5 *sexoy, ‘Aqunod opseA TeA ‘1eatY s,[Ttaeq fo stsfTeue 107eM BS wore) 8°9 9°8 ave O°) oh add ‘usBhkxO PSATOSSTC HS Hd “yAadep qooz suo ATeVem~xozdde ye usye. soTdmeg PS) o°sh 0°eg S°9h 0°69 O°TS O* Ld; o°eL ott *dmot, 109°eM 4° dg o°eL 0°06 0°2g o°sh 0°96 0°98 0°SL of dust, ITV 4§-9-OT €§-6-6 €S~-62-1 €6-LT-TT €S-6e-L €S-6-6 €S-L-OT ane °S STaRb ° E soBeroay “ST “TL uotze9S --- Page 6 --- . Table 3. ° ° ° ° 2 ° ° O ON AW FWY 28. 29, Scientific Name Dorosoma cepedianum Astyanax fasciatus Carpiocdes carpio Moxostoma congestum Notropis jemezanus Notropis amabilis Wotropis braytoni Notropis venustus Notropis lutrensis Notropis proserpinus Notropis deliciosus Dionda episcopa Dionda species Pimephales vigilax Campostoma anomalum ictalurus punctatus Pilodictus olivaris Cyprinodon species Gembusia affinis Micropterus salmoides Chaenobryttus coronarius Lepomis cyanellus Lepomis punctatus Lepomis macrochirus Lepomis auritus Lepomis megalotis L. punctatus x L. macrochirus Etheostoma grahami Cichlasoma cyanoguttata Checklist of fishes from Deviits River, exclusive of Devil's Lake and Lake Walk, Val Verde County, Texas. Common Name Gizzard shad Rio Grande tetra River carpsucker Redhorse sucker Rio Grande shiner Texas shiner Tamaulipas shiner Spottail shiner Red shiner Proserpine shiner Sand shiner Roundnose minnow New species Parrot minnow Stoneroller Southern channel catfish Flathead catfish New species Common mosquitofish Largemouth black bass Warmouth bass Green sunfish Spotted sunfish Bluegill sunfish Yellowbelly sunfish Longear sunfish Hybrid sunfish Redspot darter Rio Grande perch --- Page 7 --- A il enone ca a OSE eh eS€ ZSTt 601 eeh LIZ SEOT LLZT 994 09L°9 O9€ 9 STeVOF, ERT Ol Oy qo cq AANDOONDAO oo oocerdo HM HAOAOCOW q 92 Fo) ) ST €—T €9 T Z T 0) ) T T ) @) ) @) @) 0 ) ) 0 0 ) a § ) 9T O T 0 0 t T 6 fe) ) ve qI86LS OO Tg O ) 0 ) 0 ) ) @) 0 9 HgT 2 fe) 0 0 0 0 0) ) fe) ro @) 0 QT ) t 0 ) ) + TOT T LZe Gye O f@) +2 0 HE OO Z fe) 0 fe) @) i ) 0 T T t 0 g @) Z QT 4 Tg 0 Ps T € LT 1 t Ge Zz Z ST @) @) ) ) 0 @) 6) ) T9 T 0 €4 2ST O @) Tt 9¢ OS O fe) ) 9 4 ) St 9 18 4&1 T ) 09 «(COO @) 0 + SS HLT 869 ogy S ge TL Le 0) fe) @) @) ) 6 T @) 0 + ) 9 g 0 fe) ) 1 0 8 Z 0) ro ) 0 0 € @) HOT 8=66T t fe) @) ) OS rAd @) qT +S O z 6 T T 0 ) ) 0 ) tt OT 6 g ki S SUOTIEIS UOTIOSTTOD UST A UOTIBIG UOTIOSETTON Yoey mox,T OONMOAHADODOVDOVOOCOH OF D Xo ra) AMNONraAstaH | qo do b= Ss HE TT O OT TT MOVWO FA OMHACHOO uN oa ise) aon tk uN On MN f= co tf (oa) OA OAs HO OMMOOCOTOODOODDDOVOCDOMONAIN rr q dea et CoOOMOOO+0 isa) qd CZ eqeqansoueso eu STeq0g OSBTYOTO 6 Tweyerd emo1s0euag T SsuITyoor1oem °-T x snge STLOTeZem ZT snqtane snurTyooroem snqeqzound snT~TTeueso tOoOON Ns uN pom — STICATTO sn mnTemoue sul OONOO sotood edoostd SnsotoTTap snutdszasord STsuaezant snysnuea Tuo{kerq STTTqeue snuezomel at a4 OOoO0O0O+ OMA oxi otdazeo gs OHOOs mnuetpedes setosdg usta ueyeL setoedg yorq Jo szequnyy Aq sexey, ‘£quno0D aprea TA *STOATY Si TTASd O49 WOrT pey,oeTToD setosdg usta + qound ° 7 stmodeT stmadatT stmodetT stmodeT stmodatyT sn~iBuoz0o sna_gkrtqoueey) SepTomrTes suzeydorzotrpy SfuTpye erTsnque setoeds uopoutzdsy POEPOTTd snyeqgound snanTeq.otT ojsodue X@TTSTA satTeydemtg} S Bpuocrtd a epuotq¢ Stdo.tz0 Sstda.z40 stdo.t10 stdo.7z40 stdo.t4.0 stdo.110 stdo.110N mngsesuoos emo1s0xo epotdze sngetoseyx xeuesysy BuO SO.LOG ° STACI, --- Page 8 --- Head of Devil's Lake, looking upstream. Devil's Lake, halfway up lake. Job B-6 --- Page 9 --- , pm Deg He % > £i2 7 Devil's River at U. S. Highway 90 Bridge. JOB B-6 --- Page 10 --- enw wees i shims esse tase semee ten aS SBAQhO ps so aty JOB B-6 wernt Lawotae wee coustoce er PREPARED BY THE LOCATION OF SEINING AND WATER ANALYSIS STATIONS ON THE DEVIL'S RIVER TEXAS GENERAL HIGHWAY MAP VAL VERDE COUNTY ’ ’ | q ah » | = ¢..§ 2yg2 17 , off eo3¢ ati Bs & Hy B35 42 i tyh Bir aia 2 fill S74 Seo oe fs effhe dks Pll oi, 8s OE sytel TRS 5:2 inf wesw ~ ao is out tee = buy hae af age Hi 3h 26a 1 } x Ww BOE | o VAL VERDE COUNTY sus. 233