Distribution of Fishes in the Red River of the North Basin on Multivariate Environmental Gradients

Gasterosteidae

Brook Stickleback

Culaea inconstans (Kirtland), the brook stickleback, was listed as Eucalia inconstans by Woolman (1896), who collected it from the Red, Forest, Goose, Maple, and Red Lake Rivers, English Couley near Grand Forks, and Daugherty Creek, a tributary of Lake Traverse (Figure A79). Hankinson (1928) reported it from the Red River and described it as the most widely distributed fish in North Dakota. Olson (1932) collected it from the Buffalo and Snake Rivers; and Deason and Nelson reported it from the Mud River, a tributary to lower Red Lake, in 1938 (UMMZ 1994). The brook stickleback has been reported from nearly every stream in the Red River basin. However, it has not been reported from the Red River since 1928, and it has been found in the Otter Tail River only in its headwater reaches. The species has been taken at 26% of the stream sites sampled in the Red River basin since 1962, but has been least common in reaches of the NCH ecoregion, where it has been found at only 10% of the sites (Table 4). The number of individuals in site collections has varied, but several hundred have been obtained at times.

Figure A79. Distribution of the brook stickleback in streams of the Red River of the North basin.

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