Fish Studies

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Fish are great indicators of water quality. They, like macroinvertebrates, live in the stream and react to it. Some fish are more pollution tolerant than others. These two studies show improvement in Huff Run's water quality over time.

Three segments of Huff Run were sampled for fish a prior to 2002. As the stream flows west (left), it travels from undisturbed, original conditions into areas where coal has been removed by surface and underground mines. The results, shown in the table below, illustrate diverse fish communities above the mining sites (#1) and only pollution-tolerant fish species in the lower course of the stream (#3).            Area 3 (Sattler's Bottom Rd)          Area 2   (Indigo Rd)                    Area 1    (far upstream)   Green Sunfish 13                               Creek Chub 192                               Creek Chub 243                                                            Blacknose Dace 136                         Redside Dace 81                                                           Johnny Darter 84                               Blacknose Dace 56                                                            Redside Dace 57                               Fantail Darter 45                                                           White Sucker 44                                 White Sucker 39                                                           Fantail Darter 42                               South, Redbelly Dace 36                                                            Green Sunfish 26                              Johnny Darter 22                                                            Bluntnose Minnow 2                           Bluntnose Minnow 17                                                                                                                       Least Brook Lamprey 8                                                                                                                       Green Sunfish 5                                                                                                                       Bluegill Sunfish 5                                                                                                                       Creek Chub X Redsided 1 Total # of Fish       13                                                           583                                                           558 Total # of Species        1                                                             8                                                                11 The density decreased from 558 individuals in Area #1 to 13 individuals in Area #3.

Fall 2003 Aquatic Ecology Class Downstream Site (on Huff Run Rd)       Upstream Site (on Heritage Rd.) Creek Chub 3                                         Creek Chub 17 Northern Hog Sucker  1                          Blunt Nose Minnow 1 White Sucker 1 (very large)                    Emerald Shiner 1                                                                Johnny Darter 5                                                                Black-Nosed Dace 2                                                                             Northern Hog Sucker 2 Total  fish        5                                         28 Total  species   3                                        6 Although this study did not find the large amount of fish that the EPA study found upstream, we are encouraged to see pollution intolerant fish downstream. The small amount of fish recovered may be because the  study was conducted in only one afternoon.

Since the first study, Mount Union College has conducted another  fish study. This study demonstrates that the stream health is getting better.

Midwest Biodiveristy Institute conducted a full stream sweep in the summer of 2005. Data here only reflects the sites shown above for comparison. Although the same amount of species in the first study were found here, a much larger amount of fish were found, showing improvement. Also, comparing the Mount Union College study and this one, not only were more fish found but also more species. This site is far downstream and such imporvement (although small) here is hoped for and celebrated.

Area 3     (HR-32)       Area 2       (HR-6)               Area 1   (HR-0)           MUC Downstream Site Creek Chub -14            White Sucker 50                    White Sucker - 342             White Sucker - 10 Green Sunfish - 2         W. Blacknose Dace - 139      W. Blacknose Dace - 194  Northern Pike - 1                                       Creek Chub - 144                 Creek Chub - 169             W. Blacknose Dace - 1                                       Redside Dace - 11                S. Redbelly Dace - 11       Creek Chub - 52                                       Bluntnose Minnow - 23          Redside Dace - 30              Green Sunfish - 21                                       G. Sunfish x Bluegill - 1          Fathead Minnow - 2                                                                                     Bluntnose Minnow - 179                                       Green Sunfish - 4                 Green Sunfish - 17                                                                                     Bluegill Sunfish - 6                                       Johnny Darter - 147              Johnny Darter - 256                                       Fantail Darter - 174               Fantail Darter - 194 Total Fish               16                              693                                     1,400                                 85 Total Species                    2                              8                                            11                                   5