With about 790 species, the United
States is home to the most diverse assemblage of temperate
freshwater fishes in the world. Illinois alone has 187
known native fish species, but of those, 13 are endangered
and 15 are threatened statewide. But while native game
fish such as bass and trout get a great deal of attention,
our native non-game fish species are little appreciated.
Several years ago, Integrated Lakes
Management (ILM) created the first Illinois refuge for
state endangered and threatened non-game fish species
in a 2.8-acre residential detention pond at Prairie Crossing
in Grayslake, Illinois (CW, Fall 1999).
Jim Bland of Integrated Lakes Management,
netting fish at Prairie Crossing.
The project focused on four fish species
found in Chicago Wilderness: blackchin shiners (Notropis
heterodon), blacknose shiners (Notropis heterolepis),
banded killifish (Fundulus diaphanus), and the
Iowa darter (Etheostoma exile). Biologists captured
from one hundred to two hundred individuals of each species
from two source lakes in Lake County and transplanted
them to the 2.8-acre pond.
In the fall of 2000, they transferred
the four species from the pond to the 28-acre Lake Leopold
(see "Who's Who in Lake Leopold"),
also at the Prairie Crossing site. Since the larger lake
had tiger muskies and largemouth bass — both aggressive
predators — researchers were not certain how each
species would fare. They needn't have worried.
Informal seining studies conducted
in the fall of 2001 suggest that they have not only survived
but are thriving. The research team found thousands of
individuals of each of these four species in the Prairie
Crossing lake and pond. An added bonus was the recent
discovery of the pugnose shiner (Notropis anogenus)
among the other species.
As a consequence of this success,
the project has entered a new phase. The Illinois Department
of Natural Resources has prepared four recovery outlines,
the first of their kind for endangered and threatened
fish species in Illinois. Graduate students Matthew Roberts
and Adrienne Davis will be working under the direction
of Dr. Brooks Burr, of Southern Illinois University at
Carbondale, and Vic Santucci, of the Max McGraw Wildlife
Foundation, to study the life histories, ecology, and
population status of the banded killifish and the blackchin,
blacknose, and pugnose shiners. Dr. Burr is a nationally
recognized expert on native non-game fish and co-author
of the Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of North
America. The research team also will examine the condition
of available habitat where these fishes were known to
occur to determine the feasibility of future reintroductions.
Dr. Mary Ashley of the University
of Illinois at Chicago and her graduate student, Fusun
Ozer, will be studying the genetics of the shiner species.
This is particularly critical since the initial fish transfer
involved a relatively small number of individuals, and
genetic bottlenecks (loss of viability in future generations)
are a possibility.
Future phases will include additional
fish transfers to other northeastern Illinois lakes and
ponds, as well as the publication of information on the
genetics and life histories of these four species. If
things continue to progress well, these species will become
the first Illinois endangered and threatened fish species
to be relieved of that unfortunate distinction.
— Jim Bland
Jim Bland is the Director of Integrated
Lakes Management, based in Gurnee. To learn more, go to
www.prairiecrossing.com,
or visit the North American Native Fishes Association
Web site at www.nanfa.org.
