Cape Fear shiner

Notropis mekistocholas

SPECIES CODE: E01N V01

STATUS:

Listed Endangered with Critical Habitat on September 25, 1987 (52 FR 36034 36039). Recovery Plan completed on October 7, 1988.

Note: All descriptions are abstracted and taken from the Federal Register (1987) and the Recovery Plan (1988).

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

The Cape Fear shiner is a member of the Cyprinidae family, who rarely exceeds 2 inches in length. The species’ exact diet is unknown, however, it is believed that the species is an herbivore (Snelson 1971).

REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT:

No information is available regarding reproduction and development.

RANGE AND POPULATION LEVEL:

This fish has been collected from nine stream reaches in North Carolina (Bear Creek, Rocky River, and Robeson Creek, Chatham County; Fork Creek, Randolph County; Deep River, Moore and Randolph Counties; Deep River, Chatham and Lee Counties; and Cape Fear River, Kenneth Creek, and Parkers Creek, Harnett County (Snelson 1971; W. Palmer and A. Braswell, North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, personal communication, 1985; Pottern and Huish 1985, 1986)). It is currently known from only three small populations in the Cape Fear River drainage in Randolph, Moore, Lee, and Chatham Counties, North Carolina.

HABITAT:

The Cape Fear shiner is generally associated with gravel, cobble, and boulder substrate, and it has been observed inhabiting slow pools, riffles, and slow runs often associated with water willow (Justicia) beds (Palmer and Braswell, North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, personal communication, 1986; Pottern and Huish 1985, 1986; Snelson 1971).

PAST THREATS:

The Cape Fear shiner may always have existed in low numbers. Dam construction in the Cape Fear River system has probably had the most serious impact on the species by inundating the species’ rocky riverine habitat and altering stream flows. However, its recent reduction in range and its small population size (Pottern and Huish 1985, 1986, 1987) increase the species’ vulnerability to a catastrophic event, such as a toxic chemical spill.

CURRENT THREATS:

Potential threats to the species and its habitat could come from such activities as land use changes, chemical spills, road construction, stream channel modification, changes in stream flows from hydroelectric power, impoundments, wastewater discharges, increases in agricultural runoff, and other projects in the watershed, if such activities are not planned and implemented with the species’ survival and habitat protection in mind (Pottern and Huish 1986).

CONSERVATION MEASURES:

Assuring survival of the Cape Fear shiner will require, at a minimum, maintaining good water quality and the natural conditions of the remaining habitat. Providing for a higher level of security will necessitate determining limiting factors and reestablishing additional populations into suitable waters within the historic range.

LITERATURE CITED:

Pottern, G.B., and M.T. Huish. 1985. Status survey of the Cape Fear shiner (Notropis mekistocholas). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Contract No. 14-16-0009-1522. 44pp.

Pottern, G.B., and M.T. Huish. 1986. Supplement to the status survey of the Cape Fear shiner (Notropis mekistocholas). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Contract No. 14-16-0009-1522. 11pp.

Pottern, G.B., and M.T. Huish. 1987. Second supplement to the status survey of the Cape Fear shiner (Notropis mekistocholas). Report to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Asheville Field Office, Asheville, NC. 7pp.

Snelson, F.F. 1971. Notropis mekistocholas, a new cyprinid fish endemic to the Cape Fear River basin, North Carolina. Copeia 1971:449-462.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1988. Cape Fear Shiner Recovery Plan. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Atlanta, Georgia. 18pp.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1987. Determination of Endangered Species Status and Designation of Critical Habitat for Cape Fear Shiner. Federal Register (52) 186: 36034-36039.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Division of Endangered Species, Species Account (Cape fear shiner (Notropis mekistocholas) [online]. Source: Endangered and Threatened Species of the Southeastern United States (The Red Book) FWS Region 4 -- As of 1/91. Available: http://endangered.fws.gov/i/e/sae2i.html. Aug. 13, 2002.