NOTES ON FISHES OF GRAND RIVER, CHOUTEAU CREEK, AND PRYOR CREEK, MAYES COUNTY, OKLAHOMA

comprising an ecotone. Branson considered Grand River an effective barrier to dispersal of fishes between the two faunas. We find that despite marked alteration by impoundment, Grand River remains a boundary between eastern and western fishes. We took typical Ozark fishes such as Notropis boops (bigeye shiner), Notropis camurus (bluntface shiner), Campostoma anomalum (central stoneroller), and Etheostoma spectabile (orangethroat darter) in the river mainstream but not from Chouteau Creek, despite rock riffles and habitat apparently acceptable for those fishes in the latter stream. With the exception of one location reported by Hall (3), the fish fauna of Chouteau Creek has not been previously documented. Lower Chouteau Creek now reflects the effects of impoundment of Grand River, with white bass (Morone chrysops), buffalo fishes (Ictiobus spp.), and river carpsuckers (Carpiodes carpio) abundant. In contrast the most abundant fish in upper Chouteau Creek were: Notropis lutrensis (red shiner), Lepomis macrochirus (bluegill), Pimephales notatus (bluntnose minnow), and Lepomis megalotis (longear sunfish). Other fish species collected in upper Chouteau Creek were: Notemigonus crysoleucas (golden shiner), Notropis umbratilis (redfin shiner), Fundulus notatus (blackstriped topminnow), Gambusia affinis (mosquitofish), Labidesthes sicculus (brook silversides), Lepomis cyanellus (green sunfish), Lepomis gulosus (warmouth), Micropterus salmoides (largemouth bass), and Etheostoma whipplei (redfin darter). Ecological differences between upper and lower Chouteau Creek were documented by a complete dichotomy of distribution of Pimephales notatus (typical of upland conditions) and Pimephales vigilax (bullhead minnow) (characteristic of low-gradient streams). Notropis camurus, considered rare in Oklahoma (7), was relatively common (59 adults from three gravel bar locations) in Grand River in our study area but absent from the creeks. Branson (6) considered N. camurus rare in Grand River, and Hall