Channel darter (Percina copelandi) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 4
Distribution
North American Range
The distribution of the channel darter throughout North America has been characterized as highly localized (Alan Dextrase, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR), personal communication) and was described in the previous status report (Goodchild 1994). In the United States, specimens of Percina copelandi are widely distributed but present in low numbers (Figure 2). They are found along the eastern margin of the lower peninsula of Michigan, west of the Appalachians, south to Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and southeastern Kansas (Scott and Crossman 1973). Individuals have been captured in Lake Champlain bordering New York and Vermont. Records of capture have also been confirmed in the southwest corner of Oklahoma in the East Cache and Medicine creeks in Comanche County (Brown et al. 1997).
Figure 2. North American distribution of the channel darter Percina copelandi. The stippled area indicates the known distribution of the channel darter in North America.
Canadian Range
While the channel darter was and still is uncommon in Canada, disjunct populations can be found in Ontario and Quebec (Figure 3). In Ontario, specimens were found in Lake Ontario and along the shores and tributaries of Lakes Erie and Lake St. Clair. In Quebec, channel darters were captured in the tributaries of the St. Lawrence River in the regions of Chaudière-Appalaches, Estrie, Lanaudière, Maurice-Bois Francs, Montérégie and the Outaouais.
Two records of capture were not included in the previous status report. One specimen was captured in 1989 in Prescott and Russell County, Ontario, at the mouth of Little Rideau Creek where it enters the Ottawa River in Voyageur Provincial Park. This specimen is catalogued in the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto [ROM 70682]. The other record was for a specimen captured in a tributary to Black Creek, Enniskillen Ontario, in 1979 [CMNFI 79-1028]; however, this specimen was re-examined by E. Holm (ROM) in 1999 and identified as a blackside darter, Percina maculata.
Since the previous status report, channel darter specimens have been collected from four new waterbodies in Ontario (Appendix 1). In 1996, four channel darter specimens were captured in Lake St. Clair at Laforet Beach in Essex County [ROM 70523] and 65 were collected from several points along the St. Clair River near Walpole Island in Kent County, Ontario [ROM 70533; 70534; 70789; 70535; 70791; 70537]. In Hastings County, specimens were collected from the Moira River during the spring of 1999 by Golder Associates (exact number unknown). Seven more fish were collected from this same location in June that same year (OMNR field collection record DS-99-01). During June and July 2001, another 47 specimens were captured in the Moira River (Jason Lean, Trent University, personal communication). Suitable habitat for channel darter appeared to be present in the Black River, which is close to other eastern Ontario populations in Hastings County. Biologists from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) attempted to capture channel darters in the Black River with a seine net in 1999 but were unsuccessful (Alan Dextrase, OMNR, personal communication). However, in 2001, three specimens were captured in the Black River 7-8 river km further downstream from the 1999 site (Jason Lean, Trent University, personal communication). It is unlikely that channel darters have access to the upstream site due to a series of rapids.
In Quebec, channel darter specimens were captured in six new waterbodies in the vicinity of the Ottawa River (Appendix 1). One specimen was captured in the Rivière Rouge, two in Rivière Blanche, two in Rivière Petite Nation, and 16 in the Rivière Kinonge (Dubuc 1999). Furthermore, over a two-month period in 1999, 76 specimens were captured by the Société de la faune et des parcs du Québec (MEF) and the University of Ottawa in the Gatineau River, 12 km upstream from its confluence with the Ottawa River (Richard Pariseau, MEF, personal communication). Percina copelandi was first captured in Lac Saint Pierre as recently as 1995. One specimen was captured from Lac Saint Pierre – Rive Nord and four were captured from Lac Saint Pierre – Rive Sud. No specimens were captured in the l’Archipel of Lac Saint Pierre (Fournier et al. 1996).
Figure 3. Canadian distribution of the channel darter Percina copelandi. The closed circles represent new records of capture and records of recapture since the original status report (Goodchild 1994); the open circles represent extirpated sites.
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