THE CARP AND MINNOW FAMILY Cyprinidae

GOLDFISH Carassius auratus (Linnaeus, 1758)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Introduced. Goldfish were the first exotic fish to be introduced into North America. DeKay (1842) reports that the first releases were as early as the late 1600s. It was common and well-known in the waters around Brookline, Cambridge, and Brighton, Massachusetts before 1839 but the species was not noted in western Massachusetts prior to 1941. We have found specimens in scattered areas, statewide, usually near urban centers. The species is probably more widely distributed than our data suggest since goldfish are common in such areas as farm and golf course ponds, which we have not surveyed.

LAKE CHUB Couesius plumbeus (Agassiz, 1850)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native - State Endangered. In Massachusetts, lake chub are rare and are currently currently found only in portions of the Westfield River. As late as 1952, lake chub were common in the Middle and West branches of the Westfield; however, surveys conducted between 1977 and 1990 have failed to locate this species in the Middle Branch and have only found a few specimens in the upper East and West branches. The Westfield population is disjunct from its nearest conspecifics in the northern Connecticut River system of Vermont and New Hampshire. The Massachusetts population occupies the southeastern most part of the species range and is presumed to be a glacial relict. State listing is due to a documented decline over the last 30 years. This species has been collected at only a few of the many sites surveyed in the Westfield drainage since 1977. The reasons for its decline are unknown.

GRASS CARP Ctenopharyngodon idella (Valenciennes)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Introduced - Non-reproducing. Recently discovered in a number of Massachusetts ponds. Introductions are from illegal private releases (J. Bergin, MDFW pers. com., 1992). Local reproduction has not been documented and is improbable in the small ponds from which they were reported. Imported live as a food fish in Boston's Chinatown along with the bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), which can hybridize with the grass carp. Bighead carp have not been found in the wild in Massachusetts.

RED SHINER Cyprinella lutrensis (Baird and Girard)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Introduced - Non-reproducing. MDFW biologist J. Bergin collected two adult specimens from Dickey Brook, New Salem, in July, 1972. The specimens were preserved and identified by both Bergin and the Massachusetts Cooperative Fisheries Research Unit, but have been since lost.

COMMON CARP Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, 1758

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Introduced. Common carp were first distributed in Massachusetts by the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries in 1880. Today, carp are found in many areas, particularly the Merrimack, Concord, Connecticut, Taunton, and Blackstone river systems, and in a number of larger lakes and ponds. Carp are at times very common; over 20,000 were killed by dropsy (caused by a Aeromonas bacteria) over a short period of time in the Merrimack River in the late 1970's. Our records probably underestimate the range and abundance of this species since it is normally not taken with small seines and electrofishing gear used during our surveys.

EASTERN SILVERY MINNOW Hybognathus regius Girard, 1856

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native - State Special Concern. In Massachusetts, this species is only found in the mainstem of the Connecticut River north of the Holyoke Dam and in the lower Deerfield River. This species was shown to be abundant over the flooded flats along the Connecticut River near Hadley by Professor Thomas J. Andrews (U. Mass., Amherst) during the 1950's. One of his seine collections contained nearly 100 specimens. However, recent collections (1978-89) have recorded only a few individuals, usually collected along with the abundant spottail shiner, Notropis hudsonius. The reasons for this decline in Massachusetts are uncertain; however, other members of the genus Hybognathus have been noted as declining in the mid-West due to siltation, pollution, and changes in water flow. In Massachusetts, the decline may be related to human manipulation of the natural river flow in the Connecticut Valley, as dams and pump storage facilities have been built. These types of water control practices may reduce or change the character of backwaters and spawning sites utilized by the silvery minnow.

COMMON SHINER Luxilus cornutus (Mitchill, 1817)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native. In Massachusetts, this minnow is most common west of the Connecticut mainstem; it is found in all of the major Connecticut River tributaries, and in the Hoosic and Housatonic rivers. In addition, there are scattered records from the Nashua, Merrimack, French, Blackstone, Taunton and Charles river drainages. It is absent from all coastal streams, Cape Cod, and the Islands. Common shiners may have been more widely distributed in eastern Massachusetts in the past. For instance, we have seen historic specimens from the Charles drainage collected at Waltham (late 1800's) and at Medfield (1962), but we have not observed this species in the Charles during any of our post 1975 surveys. Other eastern Massachusetts records, except from the Merrimack River drainage, are scattered and rare. A recent comparison of the results of pre-1950 stream surveys to post-1975 surveys show a considerable decline in the relative occurrence of the common shiner in the central portions of the state, the Millers and Chicopee Systems in particular.

GOLDEN SHINER Notemigonus crysoleucas (Mitchill, 1814)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native. In Massachusetts, golden shiners are abundant and widely distributed. This species occurs in every drainage in the state, and its distribution has probably been enhanced by the release of fishes from bait buckets. While, the largest specimens are found in slow backwaters of rivers and large ponds, small juveniles are often found in smaller hill streams.

EMERALD SHINER Notropis atherinoides Rafinesque

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Introduced? Reported by MDFW fisheries biologists from several large impoundments in Massachusetts, but specimens have never been examined by specialists. This species, however, has been observed in bait stores in Massachusetts.

BRIDLE SHINER Notropis bifrenatus (Cope, 1869)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native. Occures in all major drainages except Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Jenkins and Zorach (1970) noted that the bridle shiner is excluded from the upper Connecticut River by the fall line at Turner's Falls. We, however, have collected one specimen from Willow Brook, a tributary to South Athol Pond. This single Millers River record is probably due to an introduction, or to stream capture with the nearby Quabbin watershed. While bridle shiner were common, at least until the early 1960's, this interesting little minnow appears to be currently declining in eastern Massachusetts. We have collected only a few specimens from this region between 1975 and 1995. A 1993 New England Aquarium resurvey of 28 historic localities where this species had been collected in eastern Massachusetts found this shiner at only 7 sites.

SPOTTAIL SHINER Notropis hudsonius (Clinton, 1824)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native. In Massachusetts, this minnow is abundant in the Connecticut, Deerfield, Chicopee and Westfield systems. It is common in the Merrimack and Housatonic river drainages, and a few specimens have been collected from the Neponset, Nashua and Concord Rivers. During the late 1970's, spottail shiners were very common in the lower Charles River in Cambridge and Boston, but we have taken only a few specimens since 1985. Steven Shapiro (1976), who studied this species locally, thought that the Massachusetts populations outside of the Connecticut River system most likely resulted from bait fish introductions. This may be true since they are absent from the Blackstone and Taunton river drainages, where this species might be expected to occur, and spottail shiners were not mentioned by early authors such as Storer, Putnam, or Goode and Bean.

MIMIC SHINER Notropis volucellus (Cope, 1865)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Introduced. In Massachusetts, mimic shiner were first found in a small tributary of the Connecticut River near Longmeadow by Britton McCabe in 1941. Their introduction into Massachusetts waters is probably due to bait fish releases prior to that date. Today they are common in some areas of the Connecticut mainstem and in the lower Westfield and Deerfield Rivers. A small series of juveniles, collected by Professor T.J. Andrews in 1953, from Townsend Harbor on the Squanacook River is the only known record outside of the Connecticut system.

NORTHERN REDBELLY DACE Phoxinus eos (Cope, 1862)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native - State Endangered. Rare in Massachusetts and known from a small portion of the Green River (Deerfield drainage) in the vicinity of Greenfield. Dr. Britton McCabe first found this species in Massachusetts near downtown Greenfield in 1940. The Massachusetts population is historically known from only four localities in the Green River drainage. It has only been found at one since 1978, where they are uncommon.

BLUNTNOSE MINNOW Pimephales notatus (Rafinesque, 1820)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Introduced. First found during a survey of the lower Housatonic by T.J. Andrews, K.E. Hartel and D.G. Smith in 1979. This species was not found during Britton McCabe's 1940 surveys of the Housatonic and it is presumably a recent introduction; probably from a bait bucket release. The species appears to be common and established in the Housatonic, where it is now known from over 10 sites. This species was also first noticed in Quabbin Reservoir when MDFW collected a single juvenile from the east shore in the early 1980s. Our 1989 shorefish samples of Quabbin suggest that it is now the most common minnow in the reservoir.

FATHEAD MINNOW Pimephales promelas Rafinesque, 1820

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Introduced. First documented in Massachusetts in 1979, when a population was found at the junction of the Green and Housatonic Rivers in Great Barrington. They are common where found in the Housatonic but are known from only a few sites. A reproducing population was found in the late-1980's in the Concord drainage and in a pond on the University of Massachusetts' Amherst campus. A single adult was also collected from a small tributary to the Connecticut River, Agawam in 1980. These Massachusetts records are probably due to bait-bucket releases.

BLACKNOSE DACE Rhinichthys atratulus (Hermann, 1804)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native. Blacknose dace are by far the most common stream minnow, occurring from the Hudson to the Blackstone, and north through western portions of the Merrimack River drainage system. In the eastern portion of the state, blacknose dace are now only found in five streams tributary to the Merrimack River, and in four streams in the Concord-Assabet River drainage. Blacknose dace are notably absent from all other Massachusetts coastal drainage systems.

LONGNOSE DACE Rhinichthys cataractae (Valenciennes, 1842)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native. In western Massachusetts, longnose dace are common in clear hill streams with riffles, boulders and gravel. They have also been sampled in large numbers from lower-gradient, main-stem rivers, including the Housatonic River. Longnose dace are absent from almost all of the eastern part of the state except in upland tributaries to the Nashua River. They are rare in the lower Merrimack drainage, where there are only two records; one from Lawrence in 1859, and one from Andover in 1987. The longnose dace may have been more common along the Merrimack before industrial pollution and dams.

RUDD Scardinius erythrophthalmus (Linnaeus)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Introduced. Imported to Massachusetts as a bait minnow at least as early as the late 1980s. K.E. Hartel collected an adult (206mm SL) and a young (88mm SL) on two different dates in the spring of 1991 and others in later years from the Charles River in Cambridge. The presence of both young and adults over several years now documents that the species is reproducing in the lower Charles. There is also a record of the species from Benton Lake, Otis.

CREEK CHUB Semotilus atromaculatus (Mitchill, 1818)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native. In Massachusetts, creek chub are found in most major river drainages west of the Connecticut River. East of the Connecticut River, creek chub are much less common. There are only four recent records from the Chicopee River drainage and a single record from the Millers River drainage.

FALLFISH Semotilus corporalis (Mitchill, 1817)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native. In Massachusetts, fallfish are very common in the Connecticut River system but are rarer in the eastern part of the state. The last Charles River records date back more than 30 years. Storer (1867) stated that they were found in many rivers and his 1839 description is based on a 14 inch specimen from Walpole (Charles drainage). Recent records of fallfish from Cape Cod are lacking, however, two mounted specimens (12 and 16.5 inches TL) in the Springfield Museum of Natural History are labeled from "ponds on Cape Cod, 1911."

from: An Annotated Working List of the Inland Fishes of Massachusetts. © 1996. K.E. Hartel (hartel@mcz.harvard.edu), D.B. Halliwell (arcsys@mint.net) and A.E. Launer (aelauner@leland.stanford.edu).