Invasion

Invasion Description

1st Record: MD-VA/Potomac River (1889-1909, Smith and Bean 1898; Jenkins and Burkhead 1993)

Geographic Extent

Susquehanna River - I. punctatus was stocked in 1910-1919 in PA by United States Fish Commission (Bowers 1914; Leach 1921). However it was not listed by Fowler (1919; 1948) or Greeley (1939) for the Susquehanna drainage. However, it was collected in 1949 at Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River, and was reported as common there in 1958, Howarth 1961) and throughout the Susquehanna in PA (Bielo 1963).

Upper Bay and Drainages - I. punctatus was stocked in the Patapsco River MD; 1919 (Leach 1919), but was not found in early upper Bay surveys (Fowler 1917; Fowler 1933; Hildebrand and Schroeder 1928; Radcliffe and Welsh 1917). The first published field records were from 1958, on the Susquehanna Flats, where it was common (Howarth 1961, and in the Northeast River, where it was the most abundant gamefish in a creel survey (Elser 1960). It was common in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal by 1970 (Wang 1971), and common down the Bay to Back River, north of Baltimore (Lippson et al. 1973). It has been caught rarely in the Rhode River, where Amieurus catus (White Catfish) was more frequent (Hines et al. unpublished data).

Patuxent River- 'This species should be considered rare until it becomes better established' (Mansueti 1950). It is now found in tidal waters at Jug Bay, but we do not know its abudance (Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary 1995).

Eastern Shore Tributaries - I. punctatus was considered widespread in 1976 (Lee et al. 1976), but was probably introduced much earlier. Lippson et al.'s (1973) maps show I. punctatus as limited to Upper Bay tributaries, but it is now abundant south to the Pocomoke River (Secor 1996). This fish was common in the low-salinity tributaries of the Blackwater River, Somerset County (Love et al. 2008).

Potomac River- I. punctatus was stocked in 1889-1909 by Virginia Fish Commission and USFC; at locations between Quantico VA and Hagerstown MD (Smith and Bean 1898; Jenkins and Burkhead 1993), and was abundant by 1915 (McAtee and Weed 1915). It is now found downriver to Maryland Point; and in tributaries to Wicomico River further downstream (Lippson et al. 1979; Starnes et al. 2011; Kraus and Jones 2012).

Rappahannock River- Three hundred I. punctatus fingerlings were planted in 1906 by the USFC (Bowers 1907). This catfish was abundant by 1951 (Massmann et al. 1952). It was collected only in the coastal Plain and estuary of this river system (Maurakis et al. 1987).

York River- I. punctatus was abundant by 1949 in Pamunkey River (Raney and Massmann 1953) and was probably introduced much earlier. In a Virginia Institute of Marine Science trawl survey, I. punctatus was most common at tidal freshwater-oligohaline stations and extended downriver to station Y 25 (25 mi. from Bay mouth); the native White Catfish (Ameiurus catus) was more common in brackish water and extended to station Y 10 (Markle 1976).

James River- Ictalurus punctatus was stocked in 1893-1904 by the Virginia Fish Commission (VFC) and the USFC (Jenkins and Burkhead 1993).