Preimpoundment Ichthyofaunal Survey of the Piney Creek Watershed, Izard County, Arkansas

Piney Creek is a clear medium-size tributary of White River in a region of the Ozarks that is undergoing rapid environmental change. Piney Creek is characterized by a very diverse ichthyofauna, although increased sedimentation due to poor agricultural practices and gravel mining threatens to destroy much natural habitat and eventually may cause extirpation of some species. The wide diversity of 44 species is related to variety of habitat and the proximity of a large reservoir, and not to differences in the physicochemical environments. Fish density ranged from 15,100 to 21 fish/ha, greatest concentrations being in headwater pools. For the three most numerous cyprinids, mean weight per individual was greater in pools than in riffles. Okkelbergia aepyptera was collected for the second time in Arkansas (Harp and Matthews, in press), and a range extension for Notropis sabinae is reported