FRESHWATER FISHES
E. J. Crossman and E. Holm
DISTRIBUTION
The documentation of the fauna of fishes in the area of the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone began in 1678 when, in an interview, LaSalle mentioned the occurrence of sturgeon (=lake sturgeon), salmon (=Atlantic salmon) and herring (=cisco?) in Lake Ontario (Dymond 1964). Early reports documenting the fauna of the Ecozone includes Richardson (1836), Forelle (1857), Nettle (1857), Ure (1858), D'Urban (1859), Small (1865), Wright (1892), Whitaker (1893), Provancher (1875-1876), Montpetit (1897), Rathbun and Wakeham (1897). Publication of checklists and descriptions of the fishes of the Ecozone continued in the early 1900's (Evermann 1902, Evermann and Kendall (1902a, 1902b), Meek and Clark 1902, Evermann and Goldsborough 1907, Nash 1908, Jordan and Evermann (1911), Nash (1913), Halkett (1913), Bensley (1915), Fowler (1915), Clemens (1922), Dymond (1922), Dymond et al. (1929), Hubbs and Greene (1928), Greeley (1929), Hubbs and Brown (1929), Koelz (1929).
A period of active surveying and documentation of the fauna occurred in the 1930's through to the early 1950's (e.g. Rawson 1930, Pritchard 1931, Richardson 1935, Mélançon 1936, Dymond 1937, Dymond 1939, Toner 1937, Allin 1940, Toner 1943, Cuerrier et al. 1946, Turner 1949). Knowledge of the fishes of Ontario up to the early 1940's was summarized by Radforth (1944) which included distribution maps and a discussion of postglacial dispersal. Surveys of several watersheds in southern Ontario were conducted in the late 1940's and early 1950's by the Department of Planning and Development (Archives of Ontario, ROM Records). Other summaries of the fishes in the Ecozone included Slastenenko (1958) for Canada, Dymond (1947) and Scott (1954) for eastern Canada, Scott (1951) and Hubbs and Lagler (1947, 1964) for the Great Lakes, Legendre (1949, 1954, 1960, 1967) and Mélançon (1958) for Québec. MacKay (1953) discussed the biology and economic importance of commercial and game fishes of Ontario.
Legendre (1971) summarized distributional information for Québec just prior to the intensive surveys which were to occur in parts of Québec in the 1970's. Scott and Crossman (1973 and the french language version 1974), perhaps the most familiar works on the fishes of Canada and that of the Ecozone, provided detailed descriptions, keys, notes on systematics, distribution, biology, and importance to humans for each of 141 of the 161 species in the zone. Following a fairly inactive period from 1954 to 1968, intensive surveys of the region began around 1968 and continued through the 1970's and into the early 1980's in both the Ontario and Québec portions of the Ecozone. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) conducted numerous inventory surveys of lakes and streams in Ontario (Goodchild and Gale 1981, Dodge et al. 1984). Most of the records resulting from these surveys were summarized on distribution maps in Mandrak and Crossman (1992a) and are now available on computer through the Natural Resources Information Branch, OMNR. Many of the specimens and most of the records which resulted from these surveys are also maintained at the Royal Ontario Museum. Bias in, and usefulness of, this inventory database has been discussed by Minns (1986) and Bowlby and Green (1987).
The equivalent ministry in Québec, Ministère du Tourisme de la Chasse et de la Pêche, later the Ministère du Loisir de la Chasse et de la Pêche (now Ministère de la Environnement et de la Faune) conducted detailed and extensive surveys of the major river systems of the Québec portion of the Ecozone (Mongeau et al. 1974; Massé and Mongeau 1974, 1976; Mongeau and Legendre 1976; Mongeau and Massé 1976; Mongeau et al. 1979; Mongeau 1979a, 1979b, 1979c; Mongeau et al. 1980; and Mailhot et al. 1981). The Québec fish fauna was summarized with shaded distribution maps by Bergeron and Brousseau (1983) and Bernatchez and Giroux (1991). Coad (1995) provided descriptions, and summaries of the distribution and biology for both marine and freshwater fishes of Canada in a well-organized encyclopedia format.
Fish faunas of specific areas in the Ecozone, including the biology and ecology of the species, have been summarized by Cuerrier (1962), MacCrimmon and Skobe (1970), McAllister and Coad (1974), Van Meter and Trautman (1970), Parsons (1973), Crossman and Van Meter (1979), Harvey (1978, 1981, 1989), Reid (1978), Bailey and Smith (1981), Steele (1981), Halyk (1983), Simser (1982), Department of Fisheries and Oceans (1984), Martin (1984), Robinson (1984), MacFarlane and Durocher (1984), Martin (1985), Underhill (1986), Steedman (1987), Beaulieu (1988), Jackson (1988), Buchanan (1989), Robitaille and Mailhot (1989), Audet and St-Onge (1992), RSMI (1992), St-Onge (1992), McMutry (1994), Strus (1994), La Violette (1996), La Violette (in prep.), La Violette and Richard (in press), and Richard (in prep.)
Summaries of introductions and changes in the fish fauna, including the area of the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone, were made by Crossman (1984) for Canada; Scott (1963) for Ontario; Berst and Spangler (1973) for Lake Huron; Christie (1973) for Lake Ontario; Hartman (1973) for Lake Erie; and Dymond (1955), Crossman (1969), Bailey and Smith (1981) and Emery (1985) for the Great Lakes.
The spread of particular species through the Ecozone was discussed by Smith (1971) for the sea lamprey, Van Oosten (1937) and Dymond (1949) for rainbow smelt; Miller (1957) for alewife and gizzard shad; Steedman and Bowen (1985) for three-spine stickleback; Scott and Christie (1963) for white perch; Dumont et al. (1988) for salmonids in Québec; and Jude et al. (1996) for the round and tubenose gobies.
Following the publication of Scott and Crossman (1973, 1974), 24 species new to the Ecozone have been discovered up to 1995, a rate of about one species every year since 1973 (see, for example, Gruchy et al. 1973, Gruchy 1973, Emery and Teleki 1978, Crossman and Leach 1979, Crossman and Nepszy 1979, Holm and Coker 1981, Trautman 1981, Crossman and Simpson 1984, Crossman et al. 1988, Crossman et al. 1992, and Mandrak and Crossman 1992a).
With the formation in 1977 of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), an ongoing series of reports that established a status for certain species appeared. Each report also provides information on distribution, habitat, biology, and other relevant aspects such as protective legislation for each of the 56 species thought to be in jeopardy in the Ecozone. Citations to all COSEWIC reports mentioned in the Appendix are included in the Literature Cited.