R. Brian Evans, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 38916

Abstract. An ichthyofaunal survey was undertaken during the summer and fall of 1996 to determine the distribution of fishes in the New River basin, Tennessee, a tributary system of the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River. Etheostoma cinereum, a threatened species in Tennessee, was collected for the first time in New River system and found to be widely distributed. Moxostoma macrolepidotum breviceps was also captured for the first time in the New River, and specimens of Moxostoma carinatum represent the first records from the Big South Fork system south of Kentucky. Many other species, particularly percids and the apparently introduced Luxilus chrysocephalus, have recently expanded their distribution in the river system. Collection of Noturus exilis from Brimstone Creek substantiated the persistence of a relict population previously represented by only 3 individuals collected in the same creek in 1953.

Using samples from this and previous surveys, analyses of fish assemblages were performed to detect spatial and temporal differences relative to mining and reclamation. Results indicate that negative changes in fish communities occurred after the onset of surface coal mining. Fish populations have improved over the past twenty years, coinciding with reclamation mandated by the Surface Mining Act.