Mitochondrial DNA Barcoding Reveals First Documented Evidence of Golden Redhorse (Moxostoma erythrurum) in the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania

Gregory R Moyer^1,*, Ryan Shaw¹, and Timothy Wertz²

¹Department of Natural Resources, Mansfield University, Mansfield, PA 16933. ²Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Harrisburg, PA 17101. *Corresponding author.

Northeastern Naturalist,Volume 28, Issue 2 (2021): 149–155

Abstract
Moxostoma macrolepidotum (Shorthead Redhorse) is a common fish species found throughout Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River basin. It is the only member of Moxostoma known to inhabit this river basin. Yet, when we compared 467 nucleotides of the mtDNA COI gene from Shorthead Redhorse (n = 4) directly upstream of Curwensville Reservoir (Susquehanna River, Curwensville, PA), we found that they appeared more similar to M. erythrurum (Golden Redhorse) from the Mississippi River basin than the native congener. In contrast, putative Shorthead Redhorse (n = 8) from other areas of the Susquehanna River were identified as Shorthead Redhorse using the same molecular marker. These findings provide the first evidence that Golden Redhorse now inhabit portions of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania.

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