Fish community and habitat data at selected sites in the White River Basin, Indiana, 1993-95

ABSTRACT: A fish community study was conducted at selected sites in the White River Basin, Indiana, as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment Program. Fish were collected and identified at 11 sites in the White River Basin during June 1993 through September 1995. Fish were collected along a single sampling reach at each of the 11 sites in 1993 and 1995 to compare spatial and temporal variation within the basin. Fish were collected along 3 sampling reaches at 3 of the 11 sites in 1994 to compare variability between reaches at a site. Seven of the study sites were on small streams (17- to 318-square-mile drainages) that could be sampled by wading, and four of the sites were on large rivers (2,444- to 11,305-square-mile drainages) that required sampling by boat. The small streams were selected to be representative of relatively homogeneous combinations of land use, physiography, and geology. The location of the sampling reach, the aquatic habitat characteristics, and the hydrologic conditions during sampling are described for each site. Aquatic habitat data necessary to calculate the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index are presented. Other mean stream-reach characteristics such as length, channel width, depth, velocity, bank height, and canopy angle also are documented.

Ninety-one species from 18 families of fish were collected in the 3 years of sampling. The numbers of fish collected increased every year in all but two reaches. Low numbers of fish were collected in 1993 at the four large river sites. The highest species richness was documented in three small streams in the northern part of the basin. The highest family richness were found near the mouth of the White River. One species of fish showed an extension into a new range. The alligator gar (Lepisosteus spatula), previously undocumented in the basin, was identified at the White River at Hazleton in 1993.

Fish community data necessary to calculate the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's Index of Biological Integrity scores are presented. The number of fish species present and their abundance at each site are documented by species, "family" composition (number of fish identified in each of the following groups: sport species, minnow species, sucker species, sunfish species, and darter species), and feeding guild (carnivores, piscivores, insectivores, herbivores, and omnivores).