Comparing Estill Fork to Hurricane Creek in the Walls of Jericho

A NANFA trip visited Estill Fork of the Paint Rock River on May 26, 2001. Below is the species list found that day posted to the NANFA e-list, along with water quality parameters and an attendance list. 33 species were netted or observed while snorkeling that day. The differences and similarities between the Estill Fork list and the Hurricane Creek list are interesting. At Hurricane Creek we found flame chubs, which have never been reported from Estill Fork to my knowledge. Also, no banded darters were found at Estill Fork, although they may have been found by other workers. And Estill Fork has Gambusia (mosquitofish) which we didn't encounter at Hurricane Creek. I'm sure that we missed species at Hurricane Creek in our time-limited seining, many of which are on the Estill Fork list.

"Estill Fork at County Road 140, Jackson Co, AL. 26 May 2001.
Dave Neely, Casper Cox, Bruce Stallsmith, Steven Ellis, Nick Sharp, Vitaly from Birmingham.
Mostly snorkelling, some collecting with seine and dip net. Notes: Beautiful gravel, lush water willow beds, crystal clear water at 65 F, pH 7.6 and TDS 160 ppm.
Species observed: longnose gar, largescale stoneroller, streamline chub, bigeye chub, striped shiner, scarletfin shiner, mountain shiner, palezone shiner (federally endangered, all released immediately!), bigeye shiner, Tennessee shiner, telescope shiner, sawfin shiner, bluntnose minnow, northern hogsucker, shorthead redhorse, black or golden redhorse, mosquitofish, northern studfish,blackspotted topminnow, banded sculpin, rock bass, bluegill, longear sunfish, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, rainbow darter, fantail darter, stripetail darter, redline darter, Tennessee snubnose darter, greenside darter, blueside darter, blotchside logperch."
(I'd forgotten that Nick Sharp joined us that day, just as he was about to graduate from UAH.)

So that defines my broad expectations of what else should be present in Hurricane Creek at the Walls of Jericho. I also looked up the conservation status of redline darters, and in Alabama they're listed as S3, Vulnerable. This is also an edge of range effect like with banded darters, since redlines are common up through Tennessee and Kentucky. But in Alabama, the upper Paint Rock system draining south out of Tennessee is their stronghold.