Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
The freshwater drum (Aplodinotus grunniens Rafinesque) was collected by Woolman (1896) from the Red Lake River at Crookston where it was reported as uncommon (Fig. A77). There are no other early records for this species from the Red River basin in the United States, but Eigenmann (1895) listed it as abundant in the Red River at Winnipeg. It was reported from the Minnesota River by Cox (1897), and from Red Lake by Surber (1920). Since 1962, the freshwater drum was reported primarily from the Red (9,12,19) and Red Lake (1,10,18) rivers, with other records from the Forest (2), Turtle (2), Goose (9), Rush (2), Sheyenne (12,16,20,21), Bois de Sioux (1,9), Rabbit (1,9), Otter Tail (6,9), Buffalo (9), Sandhill (1), Snake (1), Two (1), and Roseau (3,10) rivers and the Wild Rice River in North Dakota (20) and Minnesota (9,19). It occurred in 13% of stream sites sampled in the Red River basin since 1962, and in 24% of sites sampled in the Red River Valley ecoregion. Typical collections had one to five individuals; 54 individuals were taken at a site near High Landing in the Red Lake River (9,18,19).
The freshwater drum is usually found in lakes, reservoirs, and streams in open, turbid waters, with substrates of mud (Becker 1983). It rarely occurs in shallow, weedy areas. The drum has the greatest latitudinal range of any North American freshwater fish, occurring over most of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains and west of the Appalachians, north to Hudson Bay and south through eastern Mexico to Guatemala (Lee et al. 1980). In Canada the freshwater drum is present in the Qu'Appelle, Assiniboine, Souris, Red, and Nelson rivers (Crossman and McAllister 1986). In Minnesota it is present in the Minnesota River, and absent in the upper Mississippi River or the Rainy River/Lake of the Woods (Underhill 1989). It is present in the Missouri River drainage in North Dakota (Ryckman 1981) and South Dakota (Bailey and Allum 1962).
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/fish/fishred/fresdrum.htm
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