Date of Award
8-1976
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Biology
Abstract
The seasonal nearshore distributions of 17 species of fishes were determined in natural and artificially heated areas in a 9.6 km stretch of the Piedmont section of the James River, Virginia from July, 1973 to June, 1974. Analyses of the seasonal distributions were based on abundance and percent frequency of occurrence data. The maximum abundance and percent occurrence of ten of the 17 species of fishes in natural temperature areas occurred in early autumn. Deviations from this pattern included Notropis analostanus, equally abundant throughout the year, and Lepisosteus osseus, Notropis amoenus, Notropis ardens, Notropis rubellus, Catostomus commersoni and Lepomis macrochirus, which were taken most often in periods other than early autumn. In the heated effluent, seven species of fishes attained maximum abundance in late autumn. Exceptions were L. macrochirus, equally abundant throughout the year, and L. osseus, Cyprinus carpio, N. rubellus and Hypentelium nigricans, which were more abundant in the spring. Except for L. macrochirus, all fishes were absent or scarce in the heated effluent when temperatures exceeded 30 C in the summer and early autumn. In the winter abundance values of fishes in the heated effluent were usually comparable to those of ambient temperature locations.
Recommended Citation
Maurakis, Eugene George, "Seasonal nearshore distributions of fishes in a piedmont section of the James River, Virginia" (1976). Master's Theses. 387.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/masters-theses/387