Reproductive Biology and Early Life History of Fishes in the Ohio River Drainage

Simon, Thomas P.; Wallus, Robert

• This series fills immense gaps in knowledge of issues related to early life development of fishes in the Ohio basin. Volume III addresses the developmental and morphological issues of catfish and madtoms. This volume describes the characteristics of the Ictaluridae family, and provides a detailed pictorial guide. Subtopics within each species description includes range, distribution, occurrence, spawning, eggs, development, ecology of early life phases, and more. This book serves as both a guide to help identify individual larval fish and as a reference for environmental managers concerned with the overall health of the ecosystem that they are monitoring.

About the Series: - A much-needed taxonomic aid, complete with keys, diagnostic criteria, and illustrated descriptions for identification of the eggs, larvae, and early juveniles of most of about 285 fishes in the Ohio River Basin. It is also an equally needed compendium of information on the ecology of those early life stages, as well as a summary of the distribution, habitat, and reproductive biology of their parents--the original, report-imbedded, and previously published information compiled in each volume of this guide goes a long way towards filling immense gaps in our knowledge for future research and management.Darrel E. Snyder, Colorado State University, from the Foreword - Each species account provides an excellent mix of coherent text, selected quantitative information, and line drawings illustrating the early life stagesÖQuantitative information is useful without being overwhelming. Maps are included when relevant and background material provides key entries to the published literature for each speciesÖThe fish fauna of the Ohio River Drainage includes a large proportion of the fishes of eastern North America, including many species whose ranges extend well beyond the Ohio River. For that reason these volumes are valuable beyond the Ohio River drainage. They provide a systematic approach to the study of early life histories of fishes and are useful as a guide to scientists and managers beyond the region, even in areas such as western North America. This series will prove useful to scientists and managers from state and federal agencies, to industry and consulting firm staff dealing with river fisJames R. Karr, University of Washington