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{Page 109}
Oklahoma City-County Health Department, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
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The description and distribution of the cyprinid fish Notropis bairdi were originally published in 1929 by Hubbs and Ortenburger (1). Miller and Robison (2) have subsequently noted the range of N. bairdi to be the Red River and its principal tributaries in Oklahoma and Texas. The purpose of this paper is to report that the distribution of N. bairdi is no longer restricted to the Red River Basin, but that it has been found to extend to the Cimarron River (Arkansas River Drainage Basin).
N. bairdi was collected in seine hauls along the Cimarron River in December, 1976 and March, 1977. Specimens were recovered by using a two-man, ten-foot seine with 3/16-inch mesh. From two to two and one-half hours were expended seining at each locale. Two sites on the main stream of the river in Logan County were sampled. At Site C-1, near the Route 74 bridge (Crescent Quadrangle, SW¼ - SE¼ of Sec. 2, T16N - R4W), 707 individuals were obtained in December, whereas only 88 N. bairdi were collected in March. However, N. bairdi was not found in either December or March samplings at Site C-4, 45.9 km east of C-1 at the Route 33 bridge (Langston Quadrangle, SE¼ - SE¼ of Sec. 2, T17N - R1W).
Three tributaries of the Cimarron River in Logan County — Gar Creek, Cottonwood Creek, and Skeleton Creek — were also sampled. N. bairdi was only encountered at the Skeleton Creek site, 6.4 km west of Route 77 (Guthrie North Quadrangle, NW¼ - NW¼ of Sec. 36, T18N - R3W). Some 39 examples of N. bairdi were collected in December as compared to three in the March sample.
Other Notropis species recovered at these Cimarron River Basin sites include N. atherinoides, N. girardi, N. lutrensis, and N. stramineus.
Recognition is respectfully given to Mr. William Mathews of the University of Oklahoma for identifying the N. bairdi in our sample. The help of James Magovern and Gregory Steele of the University of Oklahoma is also acknowledged for their efforts in data collection of the N. bairdi distribution. Our gratitude is expressed to Drs. Loren Hill, University of Oklahoma, and George Moore and Rudolph Miller, Oklahoma State University, for their confirmation of the identity of N. bairdi specimens.
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1. C. L. HUBBS and A. I. ORTENBURGER, Publ. Univ. Okla. Biol. Surv. 1 (2): 17-43 (1929).
2. R. J. MILLER and H. W. ROBISON, The Fishes of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University Press, Stillwater, Oklahoma, 1973, pp. 78-79.
