First Records of Freckled Madtom (Noturus nocturnus) in Ohio, USA

Abstract

Two new Ohio localities for the Freckled Madtom (Noturus nocturnus Jordan and Gilbert, 1886) were recently discovered. These are the first, and currently only, Freckled Madtom collected in Ohio waters. A single individual was collected in the Scioto River in Scioto County by the Midwest Biodiversity Institute (MBI) and a previously misidentified specimen was collected in the Ohio River at the Hannibal Locks and Dam by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO). The closest historical records are from the Little Sandy River and Big Sandy River drainages in eastern Kentucky. Other Ohio River collections have been made near the border of Kentucky and Indiana. The origins of the recent Ohio specimens are unknown; whether they emanate from other known populations or have been overlooked altogether is unclear.