Siberian Taimen: Ensuring the Survival of the River Wolf, by Spencer Bell

Deep in the most remote regions of Russia, China, and Mongolia lurks the largest salmonid in the world, the Siberian Taimen. Sitting at the crossroads of folklore and reality, the Hucho taimen has long held the imagination of western anglers searching for the thrill of fighting “the big one”. Due to the life history of Taimen though, angling must be done responsibly to avoid negative impacts. Even the removal of a single reproducing Taimen could have devastating impacts. How then can we ensure the continuation of fish such as the Siberian Taimen in a world developing in ways that may harm them? Historically, low population densities of the Siberian Taimen were found throughout Russia and the northern watersheds of China, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia (Dulmaa 1999; Vander Zanden et al. 2007; Hogan and Jensen 2013).

Taimen thrive in swift flowing water with high oxygen levels.  Depending on competition, they can require up to 60 river miles for home range.  Although not anadromous, Taimen travel huge distances during spawning periods.   After spawning, females place 4,000-30,000 eggs under gravel in stream bottoms (Hogan and Jensen 2013).  As Taimen are both slow growing and late to mature, it takes five to seven years to reach sexual maturity.  Those few Taimen that reach maturity can grow as large as 60 inches and 60 pounds over a 50 year lifespan, though individuals of that age are rare due to targeted fishing (Holcik et al. 1988).  As opportunistic feeders, Taimen live by the rule that if it fits in their mouth, its food.  This includes mostly fish, but also birds, rodents, bats, and even other Taimen if alternative food sources are unavailable.  Large fish live alone, but younger fish will travel and even hunt in packs at times lending this fish the moniker, the river wolf. 

Siberian Taimen, Hucho taimen.  Source 

Before access to Taimen fisheries was opened to the west, the only glimpse anglers had of the river wolf was through the lens of myth.  Russians told of fish 30 feet long, able to rip trees holding set lines out of the ground.  In Mongolia, stories told of a giant Taimen stuck in ice.  Nomads ate of the fish chunk by chunk until the spring thaw.  Once the giant Taimen was free, it climbed onto land and devoured the nomads in return.  Myths such as these have contributed to local aversions of streams where Taimen are found.  In addition to rarely eating fish, Mongolians are careful when allowing children and livestock in streams home to Taimen.  In Buddhist culture though, Taimen as the children of river spirits.     Hucho taimen may be known to the Chinese as "the river god's daughter,"     Mongolian Buddhist have protected the home streams of Taimen for generations in reverence of their beliefs for centuries.  But even this cultural affinity has not been able to protect Taimen from recent development along their native streams. 

Three Taimen, underwater photo from Eg River, northern Mongolia.  Source. 

Due to its ecology, Siberian Taimen are especially vulnerable to impacts that remove individuals from the breeding population.  In Russia, historical commercial and subsistence fishing is believed to have been as high as 150-200 metric tons annually.  By the mid-1950s mass poaching combined with contamination from industry and agricultural waste had led to localized extinctions throughout the country.  Even when protections were put in place in 1988, continued illegal harvesting reduced populations to the point that fish may have been unable to find mates in coastal areas of northern Lake Baikal.  In China where Taimen are limited to two watersheds, illegal fishing and overharvest have led to population declines as high as 95% with ranges limited to 7% of historic ranges in the past 50 years (Ocock et al. 2006).  With native populations plummeting, illegal fish trade has developed between China and Mongolia resulting in further declines where the Taimen is not as heavily harvested (Chandra et al. 2005).  Outside of this illegal trade, impacts on Taimen in Mongolia are mainly due to development, mining, and overgrazing.  As fishing is not historically part of Mongolian culture, population declines have been more moderate at approximately 50% in the past 30 years.  These declines are predicted to increase in the future though due to illegal trade with China (Chandra et al. 2005).  In Mongolia, hope for the Taimen’s survival may rest in the nation’s ability to develop economic incentives to limit over harvest.

Although declining on all fronts, the future of the Taimen may actually depend on fishing itself (Stubblefield et al. 2005; Vander Zanden et al. 2007).  With the cooling of Cold War tensions in the late 1980s-early 1990s, western anglers first gained access to the streams where Taimen were native.  In Mongolia, a new tourist industry began to be developed to cater to the needs fishermen.  Instead of targeting these fish for filets as the locals though, these anglers were looking to catch “the big one” for bragging rights then release their prize.  Nearly as soon as the iron curtain fell, outfits began popping up that focused on transporting fly fishermen to the most remote areas of Siberia to battle this fish.  Especially in Mongolia, recreational fishing has offered an economic alternative to poaching that protects Taimen in areas with little other development.  To ensure the health of recreational fisheries, anglers began directing funds to the conservation of Taimen and the streams they inhabit.  This has led to the establishment educational initiatives targeting Taimen conservation in Mongolia and the establishment of nearly 500 river miles of conservation land where only catch and release fly fishing is allowed (Bailey 2012; Adachi).  To promote local compliance with these efforts, conservationist have collaborated with Buddhist monks to ensure that both the Taimen and the streams it inhabits are protected in a culturally sensitive manner.

Are these conservation efforts enough to save the Siberian Taimen?  "This fish is not like other trout and salmon species," said Zeb Hogan, a fisheries biologist with the University of Reno in Nevada.  By bringing locals into the picture and offering them alternatives to development, pressures on local fisheries have been lessened.  In Mongolia this methodology is being followed through using catch and release fly fishing as an engine of low impact development that avoids overharvesting Siberian Taimen.  The efforts in Mongolia combining a local cultural affinity for streams, anglers actively invested in the persistence of their aquatic foe, and economic development that creates an alternative to activities that harm Taimen populations serves as a guide to effectively conserve endangered fisheries.  If similar efforts can be implemented throughout its range, the Siberian Taimen may rebound from the declines it currently faces.

References 

Adachi, Satoshi. “The Pacific’s Largest and Most Ancient Salmon Species.” WildSalmonCenter.com. 

Bailey, D. H. 2012.  Collaborative conservation of Taimen (Hucho taimen) through education and awareness Khovsgol Aimag Mongolia.  ScholarWorks at University of Montana.

Chandra, S., D. Gilroy, S. Purevdorj, and M. Erdenebat. 2005. The feeding behaviour of fish from the upper Lake Baikal watershed of the Eroo River in Mongolia. Mongolian J. Biol. Sci. 3(1): 39–45.

Dulmaa, A. 1999: Fish and fisheries in Mongolia. No. 385. Rome: FAO.

Hogan, Z., O. Jensen. 2013: Hucho taimen. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013 e.T188631A22605180. DOI: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013–1.RLTS.T188631A22605180.en.

Holcik, J., K. Hensel, J. Nieslanik, and L. Skacel. 1988. The Eurasian huchen, Hucho hucho, largest salmon of the world. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, Mass.

Ocock, J., G. Baasanjav, J. E. M. Baillie, M. Erbenebat, et al. 2006: Mongolian Red List of Fishes – Regional Red List Series. Zoological Society of London, London, vol. 3

Stubblefield, A., S. Chandra, S. Eagan, D. Tuvshinjargal, G. Davaadorzh, D. Gilroy, J. Sampson, J. Thorne, B. C. Allen, and Z. Hogan. 2005. Impacts of gold mining and land use alterations on the water quality of central Mongolian rivers. Integr. Environ. Assess. Manag. 1(4): 365–373.

Vander Zanden, M.J., L. N. Joppa, B. C. Allen, S. Chandra, D. Gilroy, Z. Hogan, J. T. Maxted, and J. Zhu. 2007. Modeling spawning dates of Hucho taimen in Mongolia to establish fishery management zones. Ecol. Appl. 17(8): 2281–2289.

Congratulations Graduates!

Your dream of a Virginia Tech diploma is reality!

And now everyone is asking you  “what next?”    What is your next dream?  Some of you are already daydreaming—that’s ok.  We daydream all the time.   Dreaming is easy. Dreaming is natural. We have 2,000 daydreams per day of  ~ 14 seconds each, or 1/3 of our waking hours.

My dream is that each day you will judge what is true, beautiful and good in your world.  And when you see something wrong, you speak up.

Fish Conservation graduates at commencement, May 13 2017.

A student was passionate about archery so she searched for a better archer who would help her improve her skills. She heard about such an expert and headed out to find his home. She came upon a clearing in the woods and saw an arrow in the exact center of the bullseye on a tree. She walked on.

And came upon another clearing – again with a bullseye painted on a tree with arrow smack in the middle . Eventually she saw a barn and a house.   On the barn were several targets painted and each on had an arrow embedded in the center. 

On the porch of the house she found an old gentleman, sitting in a rocking chair, rocking slowly.  Who made these targets? she asked.   “ I did”  he replied.       She was baffled and confused – he was not what she expected.   “How do you do it?”  she asked.      

He replied “Anyone can do this.  After I aim and shoot, then I paint the target around the arrow.”  She stalked away sorely disappointed. 

Imagine that you always drew the bulls eye around where your strengths were today!     Sad!    You would never dream.   Because dreams have potential to motivate change.  -- You dream, you tell a story, you work to change, you become, you change the world, or at least some little part of it.    

Before Virginia Tech -- Years of NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND standardized testing left you thinking that your abilities were determined by the results of the test.   That was wrong -  After Virginia Tech --   You believe that your hard work and perseverance are essential to lifelong learning.

You spent four years learning to become… a fisheries scientist, geographer, forester, meteologist, a sustainability professional or wildlife biologist.  Maybe your are still uncertain or beginning to chase plan B.  You won’t soon write a Story of being disillusioned with your soul-sucking job.  You now join a  group of caring, hopeful, optimistic people.  And someday amidst all the shouting of bad advice it becomes crystal clear to you " This is what I was always meant to do!"  You have chased the dream!

Kim Wasserman won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2013, which honors grassroots environmental heroes.  Wasserman grew up in a Chicano neighborhood on the southside of Chicago. She lived in the shadow of two Coal Plants, burning coal since 1903.  The smokefilled haze from the polluting industries of Chicago chased me away decades ago.     

But Kim Wasserman was placebound.  When her infant son was three months old, he suffered his first asthma attack.   Kim began to ask questions and to speak up.  His asthma was caused by environmental pollution in the neighborhood.  In fact, her neighbors had high rates of asthma, high blood pressure, and bronchitis

Four years after her son’s first asthma attack,  Harvard released a study that attributed 41 premature deaths and 2,800 asthma attacks each year to the plants in her neighborhood.   And yet Mayor Richard Daley ignored their efforts.   His neighborhood is upwind. We call this Change Resistance.  It is Environmental Injustice and all too common.

Kim led “Toxic Tours” of industrial sites and hosted  “Coal Olympics” when Chicago made its bid for the 2016 Olympics. She explained to residents that they had the power and the right to fight for clean air. The two power plants were among Illinois’s leading sources of toxins.   Kim led the effort to form a Clean Power Coalition, which influenced new mayor, Rahm Emanuel and new City Council members to create new pollution control requirements that led the plant owners to shut down.   Today, Kim is introduced as the woman who shut down Chicago's dirty coal plants.  She remains a vocal advocate for clean water. Last year, she delivered the keynote address at the Waterkeeper Alliance Conference. 

It takes more than knowledge  ---  it takes courage to speak up to power when something is wrong, it takes integrity to tell your story to energize and mobilize your community.   

The impossible dream of genuine sustainability is your dream --  your generation will invent the sustainable future and live to see the dream realized.

Congratulations on this special day!  You are all heroes of your own developing story. 

A Rare Peek at Clinch Dace Spawning, by Don Orth

Today, The American Midland Naturalist released a paper on spawning observations of Clinch Dace (Chrosomus sp. cf. saylori). Clinch Dace is a species of high conservation need due to a restricted distribution, low population densities, and modified stream habitats.  Clinch Dace occur in only 31.5 km of headwater streams and the global population size is below 10,000 individuals (Moore et al. 2017). Ten of these areas have abandoned mine sites with $12.5M in unfunded restoration costs.  Restoration of the streams will take decades, but in the meantime, we must characterize and protect the remaining genetic diversity.

Several years ago, Hunter Hatcher and Michael Moore noted that the Clinch Dace in standardized samples were becoming more colored up each day.  They literally stumbled across a small depression in a creek where they witnessed numerous Clinch Dace in breeding coloration.  In these small streams, small circular pits are created by Creek Chubs and Stonerollers.     

 

Clinch Dace.  Photo by Isaac Szabo

In the midst of a busy field schedule, they managed to capture videos over a three-day period. These observations provide a rare peek into the behavior of this small, rare fish.   Since so little is known about the Clinch Dace, any observations could prove helpful and may assist with future captive propagation efforts (Rakes et al. 2013).  A short portion of the hours of video obtained may be viewed by clicking here.

After the field season, Hunter and Michael watched the videos over and over again, taking notes, making observations, and asking more questions.  The behaviors of the Clinch Dace changed each day.  Hatcher et al. (2017)  speculated that the early behaviors were territorial pre-spawn behaviors.  The Clinch Dace were so brightly colored that it seemed that spawning would soon be underway.   Water temperature (21.8 C) was higher than observed by White and Orth (2014) in the only other field observation of the Clinch Dace spawning behavior.  Many behaviors were characterized, including the behaviors that include females being corralled and clasped by males.  Though gamete release was not confirmed from video observations, the videos likely bracketed actual breeding events.  

Habitat is an important determinant of nest location in other fine-scaled daces Chrosomus.  Other species of Chrosomus exhibit flexibility in type of nest used.  For the  blackside dace (Chrosomus cumberlandensis), a federally listed threatened species,  flow and depth were the most influential factors in determining nest location and nest activity, respectively, and nest activity was positively correlated with substrate size (Scherer et al. 2014).

The rare observation is important because it indicates that Clinch Dace are breeding.  Although the numbers of breeders was small, the aggregation behaviors appeared to be similar to that observed in other Chrosomus dace.   If they are unable to find suitable mates due to low population densities, reproductive isolating mechanisms may break down.   In one stream, a hybrid between Clinch Dace and Rosyside Dace.

Top: Clinch Dace. Middle: hybrid Clinch Dace x Rosyside Dace. Bottom: Rosyside Dace.   Photo by Michael J. Moore.

The first step in science is observation. This rare peek raises many questions. The questions asked and what comes next is up to us. I hope the future brings efforts to spawn and propagate the Clinch Dace in captivity to enhance small populations and restore populations to some stream segments.

References

Hatcher, H.R., M.J. Moore, and D.J. Orth. 2017.  Spawning observations of Clinch Dace: Comparison of Chrosomus spawning behavior.  The American Midland Naturalist 177:318-326.     

Moore, M.J., D.J. Orth, and E.M. Hallerman. 2017. Densities and population sizes of Clinch Dace Chrosomus sp.cf. saylori in the upper Clinch River basin in Virginia. Copeia 105:92-99. 

Rakes, P.L., M.A. Petty, J.R. Shute, C.L. Ruble, and H.R. Mattingly. 2013. Spawning and captive propagation of Blackside Dace, Chrosomus cumberlandensis. Southeastern Naturalist 12(Special issue 4): 162-170 .

Scherer, A. E., and N. Santangelo. 2014. Assessment of reproductive requirements in habitat conservation efforts: a casestudy on Blackside Dace (Chrosomus cumberlandensis), a federally listed threatened species. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 71(3):408–415.

White, S. L., and D. J. Orth. 2014. Reproductive biology of Clinch Dace, Chrosomus sp. cf. saylori. Southeastern Naturalist 13(4): 735-743.

Mad About Madtoms, by Don Orth

In my last blog post, I explored the paradox of the popular, though venomous, little madtom (genus Noturus). But there is more to the madtom story than that painful sting.  Madtoms are cryptic species in more ways than one. Many species are at risk of extinction, but there is reason to be hopeful for recovery.   Reintroduction and stream and watershed restoration may someday return Mad Tom to their historical homes.  And yea!  They are also the cutest little catfish.

Cute Margined Madtom Noturus insignis Photo by D.J.Orth 

There are currently 29 species of Noturus madtoms. Madtoms originated sometime in the middle Miocene (Arce-H et al. 2016) and occur in streams of eastern North American. Madtoms resemble small bullheads, but they have a long adipose fin that is joined to a rounded caudal fin.  For a gallery of my favorite madtom  photos (how many people have a madtom gallery?)  click here.

 

Mountain Madtom Noturus eleutherus have a highly fragmented distribution.   photo by Tim Lane 

Madtoms are nocturnal benthic hiders that are colored to blend into the environment during the daytime. While many madtoms are uniformly colored to match their surroundings, others achieve crypsis through disruptive coloration.  Light spaces between the dark saddles mimic rocks and  dark saddles mimic shadows between rocks (Armbruster and Page 1996).  One good example is the Piebald Madtom Noturus gladiator. 

The boldly contrasting dark saddles on the yellow-tan back and side serve to camouflage the Piebald Madtom Noturus gladiator.  Dorsal view (top) and lateral view (bottom)  Photos by M.R. Thomas from Egge and Simons (2011)

Madtoms are cryptic in another sense. Pigmentation is a common distinguishing character, but pigment pattern can vary depending on the environment.  There are very subtle differences among cryptic species. Different species are so similar in morphology and color pattern as to be nearly indistinguishable. For example, the Piebald Madtom was formerly considered to be a Northern Madtom Noturus stigmosus (Thomas and Burr 2004).  The Chucky Madtom N. crypticus and Saddled Madtom N. fasciatus were formerly considered to be part of the Elegant Madtom Noturus elegans complex (Burr et al. 2005; Near and Hardman 2006).  Finally, the Black River Madtom N. maydeni was formerly the Ozark Madtom N. albater (Egge and Simon 2006).  More new madtoms are likely to be described.

Cryptic species of Noturus. Black River Madtom (top) was recently described from a portion of the range of the Ozark Madtom (bottom).  Photos by Uland Thomas 

Both conventional sampling and underwater observations have low detection rates for madtoms (Davis et al. 2011). While sampling fishes in southeast Oklahoma, I employed a three-pass removal method for estimating fish population size. The Freckled Madtom Noturus nocturnus seldom met the requirements of the method.  First pass I might get 3 madtoms, followed by 6 in pass two, and 10 or more in pass three.  The math didn’t work out because I assumed the probability of catching a Freckled Madtom was equal in each pass.  However, direct current electrofishing distressed madtoms each time and they moved up through the hyporheic zone, making them more detectable on each subsequent pass.

Madtoms, like many catfishes, are nocturnally active and use different habitats between night and day.  Their habitat varies greatly among different species but many occur in small streams and require loose cobbles or woody debris for cover.  Madtoms are small and feed on immature aquatic insects.  We cannot assume that all madtoms have similar habitat use patterns.  Low detection rates means we may often overlook important habitats for these little catfishes.

      

Life is precarious for the madtoms because many species have very small distributions.  Seldom are populations abundant.   Fourteen of the 29 species are threatened, endangered, or under review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  The Smoky Madtom N. baileyi, Chucky Madtom N. crypticus, and Pygmy Madtom N. stanauli are endangered.  Yellowfin Madtom N. flavipinnis and Neosho Madtom N. placidus are threatened. Carolina Madtom N. furiosus, Orangefin Madtom N. gilberti, Piebald Madtom N. gladiator, Ouachita Madtom N. lachneri, Freckledbelly Madtom N. minitus, and Caddo Madtom N. taylori are under review. One species, the Scioto Madtom N.trautmani, is endangered but, in fact, may be extinct (Platt 2013).  

Pygmy Madtoms only reach 50 mm whereas the widespread Stonecat N. flavus may exceed 300 mm.  Smoky Madtoms Noturus baileyi have a 2-year life span and only attain 73 mm. These tiny madtoms are associated with silt-free riffle habitats and frequently associate with cobble-size slab rocks for concealment during daylight.  They feed at night on immature aquatic insects. In winter, madtoms inhabit pools.  Yellowfin Madtoms are often found concealed beneath cobbles or undercut banks, or hidden in leaf litter (Gibbs et al. 2014). They have a longer life span (3 to 4 years) and attain a larger size (134 mm). 

The aptly named Pygmy Madtom (top) attains an adult size of only 50 mm.  The Stonecat may reach 12 inches (300 mm).  Top photo by Conservation Fisheries, Inc.  Bottom by Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.  

Rarity, small distributions, and low detectability make monitoring and inventorying the madtoms very difficult. For decades, the Yellowfin Madtom and Smoky Madtom were presumed extinct. The Yellowfin Madtom was not collected anywhere between 1893 and 1968 (Etnier 1994). The Smoky Madtoms were known only from Abrams Creek in Tennessee.   However, a stream reclamation project in 1957 killed all fishes in Abrams Creek so that Brook Trout could be restored.  Fortunately, the Smoky Madtom was rediscovered in adjacent Citico Creek in 1980.  Many years of captive propagation, pioneered by Conservation Fisheries, Inc., and stocking have restored breeding populations of both madtoms (Shute et al. 2005).

This first success at madtom recovery has led to other efforts to reintroduce the Yellowfin Madtom to historic habitats in Nork Fork Holston River and Powell and Clinch Rivers. Given the small ranges of many madtoms, the threats vary greatly among the various at-risk species. Where channelization has straightened and simplified streams, artificial riffle construction has been implemented (Fuselier and Edds 1995), whereas other locations minimum flow releases from dams were increased (Wildhaber et al. 2000).  There are reasons to hope that madtom recovery efforts may be more commonplace in the future.

 

Yellowfin Madtom Recovery shirt   Photo by David Crigger, Bristol Herald Courier. 

References

Arce-H., M., J.G. Lundberg, and M.A. O’Leary. 2016. Phylogeny of the North American catfish family Ictaluridae (Teleostei: Siluriformes) combining morphology, genes and fossils. Cladistics 2016:1-23. DOI: 10.1111/cla.12175

Armbruster, J.W., and L.M. Page. 1996.  Convergence of a cryptic saddle pattern in benthic freshwater fishes. Environmental Biology of Fishes 45:249-257.

Burr, B. M., D. J. Eisenhour, and J.M. Grady. 2005. Two new species of Noturus (Siluriformes: Ictaluridae) from the Tennessee River Drainage: description, distribution, and conservation status. Copeia 2005:783–802.

Davis, J.G., J.E. Miller, M.S. Billings, W.K. Gibbs, and S.B. Cook.  2011.  Capture efficiency of underwater observation protocols for three imperiled fishes. Southeastern Naturalist 10(1):155-166. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1656/058.010.0113

Egge, J.J.D., and A.M. Simon. 2006. The challenge of truly cryptic diversity: diagnosis and description of a new madtom catfish (Ictaluridae: Noturus). Zoologica Scripta 35:581-595.

Etnier, D.A. 1994.  Our southeastern fishes – What have we lost and what are we likely to lose.  Proceedings of the Southeastern Fishes Council 29:5-9.

Fuselier, L., and D. Edds. 1995. An artificial riffle as restored habitat for the threatened Neosho Madtom.  North American Journal of Fisheries Management 15:499-503

Gibbs,W.K., J. E. Miller, J. K. Throneberry, S. B. Cook, and M.A. Kulp. 2014. Summer habitat use and partitioning by two reintroduced rare madtom species. Journal of Freshwater Ecology 29:243-258. DOI: 10.1080/02705060.2014.881308

Near, T.J., and M. Hardman. 2006. Phylogenetic relationships of Noturus stanauli and N. crypticus (Siluriformes: Ictaluridae), two imperiled freshwater fish species from the Southeastern United States.  Copeia 2006:378-383.  DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1643/0045-8511(2006)2006[378:PRONSA]2.0.CO;2

Platt, J.R. 2013. Tiny Ohio catfish species, last seen in 1957, declared extinct.  Scientific American Blog.  Accessed at  https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/tiny-ohio-catfish-species-last-seen-in-1957-declared-extinct/ on April 10, 2017.

Shute, J.R., P.L. Rakes, and P.W. Shute. 2005. Reintroduction of four imperiled fishes in Abrams Creek, Tennessee. Southeastern Naturalist 4:93–110.

Thomas, M. R. and B. M. Burr. 2004. Noturus gladiator, a new species of madtom (Siluriformes: Ictaluridae) from Coastal Plain streams of Tennessee and Mississippi. Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters 15:351–368.

Wildhaber, M. L., and six coauthors. 2000.  Ictalurid populations in relation to the presence of mainstem reservoir in a Midwestern warmwater stream with emphasis on the threatened Neosho Madtom.  Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 129:1264-1280.