The Fishes of the Upper Moreau River Basin

Figure 1.  Map of the Moreau River fish sampling sites on the main river and on Battle Creek (1), Four-mile Creek (2), Alkali Creek (3), South Fork (4), Sand Creek (5), North Fork (6), Rabbit Creek (7), Thunder Butte Creek (8), and Deep Creek (9). Symbols show location of past survey stations as follows: box (Riis et al. 1988; Johnson et al. 1991, Ruelle et al. 1993); stars (Bailey and Allum 1962), triangles (Loomis 1997); and circles (SDGFP 1995).

The Moreau River, which flows through one of the most undeveloped river basins in South Dakota, can be generally characterized as a warmwater river with medium to high turbidity. Warmwater rivers exceed 24 to 26° C for extended periods of time (Moyle and Cech 2000). Bailey and Allum (1962) found 15 fish species by seining two sites on the mainstem in 1952 (Table 1, Fig. 1). Fifteen additional species (Table 1) were collected at the confluence with Lake Oahe (Riis et al. 1988, Johnson et al. 1991). There have been no fish surveys in the upper half of the Moreau River Basin. Our purpose was to 1) determine the distribution and abundance of fishes in the upper Moreau River, and 2) characterize the riverine habitat of the main river.