The Fish and Boat Commission published notice of a proposed regulation for comment adding the pugnose minnow and blacknose shiner and removing the banded sunfish and gravel chub from the endangered species list; and removing the central mudminnow and the eastern mudminnow from the state’s list of candidate species that could achieve endangered or threatened status in the December 8 PA Bulletin.

Here’s some additional information from the PA Bulletin notice on each of the species--

-- Pugnose Minnow (Opsopoeodus emiliae) is a small (40—55 mm), silver and olive colored, slender and compressed minnow with a nearly vertical mouth it uses to feed on microcrustaceans at the water's surface.

It inhabits sluggish streams, lakes, wetlands and oxbows, usually where dense vegetation or coarse woody debris is present. It occurs in waters that are clear or turbid. In Pennsylvania it occurs in a low gradient, turbid stream sections with limited submerged and emergent vegetation, but with considerable downed, in-stream woody debris.

The Pugnose Minnow was first collected in the Commonwealth in 2000 and 2001. All collections are from a short section of lower Cussewago Creek, Crawford County, totaling no more than 2 kilometers (km) in length.

Although there are no older records for this species, experts consider it native here. Cussewago Creek, particularly the lowermost section where this species was collected, is difficult to sample, and the microhabitat occupied by the Pugnose Minnow is very limited.

The pugnose minnow is proposed to be added to the endangered species list.  Click Here for more.

-- Blacknose Shiner (Notropis heterolepis) is a small olive to pale yellow minnow (40—65 mm) found in clear lakes and streams, where it is often associated with aquatic vegetation. In Pennsylvania, this species has been collected in pools, with rubble, gravel, and sand substrates, and completely lacks submerged vegetation.

There are historic records from the Lake Erie drainage, Shenango River drainage and the upper Allegheny River drainage. The only recent records are from two tributaries to the Allegheny River in Erie and McKean Counties.

The blacknose shiner is proposed to be added to the endangered species list.

-- Banded Sunfish (Enneacanthus obesus) are small sunfish (50—90 mm) with an olive colored body having 5-8 dark vertical bars extending to its ventral side. It occupies sluggish, calm sections of streams and rivers, as well as bogs, marshes, swamps, ponds and lakes.

It is closely associated with dense stands of rooted and suspended aquatic vegetation over substrates of silt, sand, mud and detritus.

In Pennsylvania it has occurred historically in the tidal portion of Delaware River drainage in Bucks, Delaware and Philadelphia Counties.

It has not been collected or verified in this Commonwealth since 1977, when 3 specimens were taken from an impingement screen at a power plant on the Delaware River near Philadelphia in Delaware County.

Enough information is available to make the determination that it no longer occurs within this Commonwealth at present and to justify its removal from Commonwealth's list of endangered fishes.

The banded sunfish is proposed to be removed from the endangered species list.

-- Gravel Chub (Erimystax x-punctatus) is a slender, medium-sized (65—95 mm) yellow to olive green chub that inhabits large creeks and rivers with clear to somewhat turbid water, over substrate that includes significant amounts of clean sand, gravel and rock. It is essentially a benthic fish that occurs in riffles and runs, in both shallow and deeper water.

The Commission is aware of 13 collections of the Gravel Chub from this Commonwealth before 1956, but there are no occurrences reported after 1979.

Enough information is available to make the determination that it no longer occurs within this Commonwealth at present and to justify its removal from Commonwealth's list of endangered fishes.

-- Central Mudminnow (Umbra limi) is a relatively small (54 mm), elongated fish that occurs in marshes, swamps, springs, ditches, lake margins and the pools of smaller streams. It is usually found in the presence of dense vegetation and soft substrates, but they have been collected in shaded, stagnant, swampy areas that lack vegetation.

Historically, the Central Mudminnow was found to be rather widely distributed in northwestern Pennsylvania during the period 1990—present, and is known to occur in Crawford, Mercer, Erie, Venango and Warren Counties at present.

The Central Mudminnow is common to abundant in the Conneaut Marsh and wetlands in the Pymatuning region; these rather extensive wetlands are the largest in Pennsylvania.

Enough information is available to make the determination that it is secure in this Commonwealth at present and to justify its removal from the Commonwealth's list of candidate fishes.

-- Eastern Mudminnow (Umbra pygmaea) is a larger mudminnow (107 mm) that inhabits backwaters, braided creek mouths, wetlands, vegetated and soft-bottom lake margins, and sluggish or still sections of streams. It occurs in clear to somewhat turbid water, usually where dense aquatic vegetation or decaying organic material provides adequate cover.

In Pennsylvania, it is native to the Delaware River drainage (Stauffer et al. 2016). It has recently been reported from the Susquehanna River basin at multiple sites, where the Commission considers it to be introduced.

Within the last 25 years, the Eastern Mudminnow was found to be somewhat common in the Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Philadelphia Counties area and some of the Pocono Mountains region during the period 1990—present.

Enough information is available to make the determination that it is secure in this Commonwealth at present and to justify its removal from the Commonwealth's list of candidate fishes.

Comments are due January 7.  Read the entire PA Bulletin notice for more information.

(Photo: Pugnose Shiner (top), Blacknose shiner.)

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[Posted: Dec. 7, 2018]

12/10/2018