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Percina macrocephala

(Cope, 1867)

Longhead Darter

G3Vulnerable Found in 1 roadless area NatureServe Explorer →
G3VulnerableGlobal Rank
Data deficientIUCN
HighThreat Impact
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.814563
Element CodeAFCQC04120
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNData deficient
Endemicendemic to a single nation
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassActinopterygii
OrderPerciformes
FamilyPercidae
GenusPercina
Concept Reference
Page, L. M., and T. J. Near. 2007. A new darter from the upper Tennessee River drainage related to Percina macrocephala (Percidae: Etheostomatinae). Copeia 2007:605-613.
Taxonomic Comments
Page (1978) found that there are at least three morphologically distinct populations of Percina macrocepahala: one in the upper Tennessee River system, one in the Green River system, and a third in the upper Ohio River system. Further study by Page and Near (2007) determined that the upper Tennessee River population is a distinct species (P. williamsi). The Green River population, although somewhat distinctive from populations in the upper Ohio River drainage, does not appear to be diagnosable morphologically and shares identical mtDNA haplotypes with the upper Ohio River populations, so Page and Near (2007) maintained these populations as P. macrocephala.
Conservation Status
Rank MethodExpertise without calculation
Review Date2012-08-01
Change Date1996-09-24
Edition Date2012-08-01
Edition AuthorsHammerson, G., P. Shute, R. Jennings, and S. Roble
Threat ImpactHigh
Range Extent20,000-200,000 square km (about 8000-80,000 square miles)
Number of Occurrences21 - 80
Rank Reasons
Spotty distribution in the Ohio River basin; rare and highly localized; extirpated in several areas; narrow habitat preference; threatened by habitat destruction/degradation (pollution, siltation, impoundments).
Range Extent Comments
Historical range included the Ohio River Basin from southwestern New York (Smith 1985), western Pennsylvania (Cooper 1983), and eastern Ohio (extirpated; Trautman 1981) southward through Kentucky (Burr and Warren 1986), West Virginia (Stauffer et al. 1995), and Tennessee (Etnier and Starnes 1983, Page and Near 2007). Populations in North Carolina (extirpated; Menhinick 1991), western Virginia (Jenkins and Burkhead 1994), and in the upper Tennessee River drainage in eastern Tennessee, formerly included in P. macrocephala, are now regarded as a distinct species (P. williamsi) (Page and Near 2007). Many populations are believed to be extirpated, and the result is a relatively widespread but spotty distribution.
Occurrences Comments
This species is represented by a couple dozen extant occurrences (subpopulations).
Threat Impact Comments
Proximate principal threats are most likely increased turbidity and siltation resulting from agricultural, industrial, and municipal development (Page and Near 2007). Populations in the south and in New York (Paul McKeown, New York Department of Environment & Conservation) are probably most affected by agricultural land uses that deposit silt in pools and may smother eggs and larvae. In West Virginia, stream sedimentation resulting from recent coal mining operations may be the biggest threat (Dan Cincotta, West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, pers. comm.). This is primarily because of the need for low sulfur coal, which is available in this area, and new mining technologies ("mountain-topping"). Many populations in the southern portion of the range are isolated by impoundments or other habitat barriers.
Ecology & Habitat

Description

This fish is a relatively large darter (reaching nearly five inches total length), with a slender body and long, pointed head and snout and a broad and irregular dark lateral stripe with depigmented area where the lateral line passes through its center. This stripe begins in front of a dark caudal spot, and continues across opercle and beyond eye to tip of snout. The area above the lateral stripe is also dark. Below the lateral stripe, the belly is mostly immaculate, with some scattered dark pigment. Dark bands are present along the edge and middle of the spinous dorsal fin, and all other fins are speckled with dark pigment. No bright colors are present. Dorsal spines 11-16; dorsal soft rays 11-14; and lateral-line scales 69-90.

Diagnostic Characteristics

Longhead darters are similar to the blackside, dusky, slenderhead and frecklebelly darters (P. maculata, P. sciera, P. phoxocephala, and P. stictogaster), all of which are potentially sympatric in various parts of the longhead darter's range. Longhead darters are separated from all in having naked, as opposed to well scaled opercles. They are separated from blackside and dusky darters in having a longer snout, and a different lateral pattern including blotches that are fused into the stripe described above. Frecklebelly darters, which may look, superficially like longhead darters, also have a fully scaled head (naked in longhead darters) and lack the modified midventral scales present in longhead darters.

Habitat

Habitat includes boulder- and cobble-strewn flowing pools and the areas above and below deep, fast riffles underlain with cobble, in larger upland creeks and small to medium rivers (Burr and Warren 1986). Spawning presumably occurs in gravel shoals.

Reproduction

The scant life history information on Percina macrocephala and its close relatives (including P. williamsi), based on Kentucky and Tennessee populations, was summarized as follows by Page (1978), Etnier and Starnes (1993), and Jenkins and Burkhead (1994). Spawning takes place in spring (March to May). There is no parental care given to eggs or larvae, but details of spawning are not published. Eggs hatch after 27 days at water temperature of 10 C; hatchlings were 10 mm. Individuals grow to 50-60 mm by age one, 70-80 mm by age two, and 90-100 mm by age three or four. Sexual reproduction is apparently not reached until individuals are two years of age. Lifespan is three to four years.
Other Nations (1)
United StatesN3
ProvinceRankNative
TennesseeS2Yes
KentuckyS1Yes
West VirginiaS2Yes
PennsylvaniaS4Yes
OhioS1Yes
New YorkS2Yes
Threat Assessments
ThreatScopeSeverityTiming
9 - Pollution———
9.2 - Industrial & military effluents———
9.3 - Agricultural & forestry effluents———

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Roadless Areas (1)
Pennsylvania (1)
AreaForestAcres
Allegheny FrontAllegheny National Forest7,430
References (32)
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  2. Burr, Brooks M. (Department of Zoology, Southern Illinois University). 1997. Review and annotation of fish watershed distribution maps. Review requested by Ruth Mathews, TNC. June 1997.
  3. Burr, Brooks M. (Department of Zoology, Southern Illinois University) and Donovan B. Henry. 2000. Review and annotation of fish watershed distribution maps. Review requested by Anthony E. Zammit, ABI. June 2000.
  4. Cicerello, Ronald R. (Kentucky State Nature Preserves). 1997a. Review and annotation of fish watershed distribution maps. Review requested by Ruth Mathews, TNC. June 1997.
  5. Cooper, E. L. 1983. Fishes of Pennsylvania and the northeastern United States. Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park. 243 pp.
  6. Etnier, D. A. 1997. Longhead darter, <i>Percina macrocephala</i>. Page 78 in E.F. Menhinick and A.L. Braswell. Endangered, Threatened, and rare fauna of North Carolina. Part IV. A reevaluation of the freshwater fishes. Occasional papers of the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences and the North Carolina Biological Survey 11.
  7. Etnier, D. A., and W. C. Starnes. 1993. The fishes of Tennessee. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, Tennessee. xiv + 681 pp.
  8. Felbaum, F., B. Mitchell, K. McKenna, J. Hassinger, A. Shiels, J. Hart and D. Brauning. 1995. Endangered and threatened species of Pennsylvania. Wildlife Conservation Resource Fund, Harrisburg, PA, 80 pp
  9. Greenberg, L. A. 1991. Habitat use and feeding behavior of thirteen species of benthic stream fishes. Environmental Biology of Fishes 31:389-401.
  10. Jelks, H. L., S. J. Walsh, N. M. Burkhead, S. Contreras-Balderas, E. Díaz-Pardo, D. A. Hendrickson, J. Lyons, N. E. Mandrak, F. McCormick, J. S. Nelson, S. P. Platania, B. A. Porter, C. B. Renaud, J. Jacobo Schmitter-Soto, E. B. Taylor, and M.L. Warren, Jr. 2008. Conservation status of imperiled North American freshwater and diadromous fishes. Fisheries 33(8):372-407.
  11. Jenkins, R. E., and N. M. Burkhead. 1994. Freshwater fishes of Virginia. American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, Maryland. xxiii + 1079 pp.
  12. Kuehne, R. A., and R. W. Barbour. 1983. The American Darters. University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. 177 pp.
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  21. Page, L. M., H. Espinosa-Pérez, L. T. Findley, C. R. Gilbert, R. N. Lea, N. E. Mandrak, R. L. Mayden, and J. S. Nelson. 2013. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Seventh edition. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 34, Bethesda, Maryland.
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