Distribution of Fishes in the Red River of the North Basin on Multivariate Environmental Gradients
Cyprinidae
Bigmouth Shiner
Notropis dorsalis (Agassiz), the bigmouth shiner, was first reported from the Red River basin by Hankinson (1928), who took specimens from the Pembina River and the Red River at Pembina, and Olson (1932), who collected four specimens from the Buffalo River and two specimens from the Wild Rice River in Minnesota (Figure A30). The bigmouth shiner has been reported from throughout the Red River basin, collected at 16% of the stream sites since 1962. The species occurs along the entire length of the tributaries, from mouth to headwaters, but most commonly occurs at sites lying on the glacial Lake Agassiz beach ridges, where it has been present at 40% of the sites (Table 4). Site collections in the basin have varied greatly, ranging from 1-99 individuals. The bigmouth shiner has not been found recently in some areas of the basin where it occurred only 15-20 years ago. In the Sheyenne River, it once was found as far upstream as Lake Ashtabula, but now occurs only near Anselm. The species also appears to have been extirpated from the South Branch Buffalo River.
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