Museum researcher and colleagues publish “An Annotated Atlas of the Freshwater Fishes of North Carolina”
For immediate release ‐ January 19, 2021
Contact: Jessica Wackes, 919.707.9850. Images available upon request
The Carolina Madtom is endemic to the Tar and Neuse river basins of North Carolina, and is threatened in the state. Photo credit: NCWRC.
In October of 2020, Gabriela Hogue, Museum Collection Manager for Ichthyology, and Bryn Tracy, retired Aquatic Biologist from NCDWR, along with Fred Rhode of NOAA, published “An Annotated Atlas of the Freshwater Fishes of North Carolina.” It contains detailed information about the 257 species of freshwater fish currently found in North Carolina. This has not been done since the 1990s. The data in this atlas is the new baseline for the spatial distribution of all of these species and can be used for their management, conservation, preservation, and tracking of invasive species. The over 276,000 records used to create the maps are available via Zenodo and GitHub and have already been used by researchers for the consideration of state imperilment status of species. Researchers can also use this publication for taxonomic and zoogeographic studies.