Intern Report: The Search for the Maryland Darter

Type: Nontidal
Region: Northern
Location: Deer Creek

I recently spent two days with the DNR looking for the elusive maryland darter on the Susquehanna and deer creek watersheds. The maryland darter hasn't been found since 1982. The darter may be a barometer or indicator of a high quality and healthy watershed. I spent my time working with two graduate students from Marshall, who were working on their thesis.

The first day we snorkeled Deer creek from the Stafford bridge all the way to the confluence with the Susquehanna. We were essentially looking for indicators of high water quality and habitat. We collected numerous species of snails, which are a significant food source for the Maryland darter. We also took stream flows which is another important aspect for the maryland darter. When the state releases water from the dam on the Susquehanna, the level of Deer Creek rises as water backtracks from the main stem into deer creek. This constant change in water flow and levels may have an effect on the snails which are an important food source for the darter. The second day we electroshocked the long riffle below the Stafford road bridge. This riffle was the last place where the Maryland Darter was spotted. We passed through the riffle nearly seven times, a process that took nearly 4 hours. We found numerous amounts of Tessellated Darters and Black and Long Nosed Dace. I was surprised by the amount of eels that we shocked out as well. We also found numerous Margin Mad Toms, a small freshwater catfish averaging 5 inches in length.

Numerous suckers, fallfish, crayfish, creek chubs, smallmouth bass, and largemouth bass were also found in the shocking. Unfortunately we never found the Maryland Darter. However, the data collected by the Marshall graduate students may lead the DNR closer to the Maryland Darter.