Recent observations of the distribution and status of bluntnose darters and crystal darters in Iowa

The distribution and status of Iowa's fishes were last extensively described in Iowa Fish and Fishing (Harlan et al. 1987). Since then, numerous fish collections have been made in Iowa's interior and bordering rivers and streams. Excluding non-native species, there have been three documented accounts of new fish species distributional records in Iowa since 1987. In this paper, I describe new collections of crystal darter (Crystallaria asprella) and bluntnose darter (Etheostoma chlorosomum) from the Mississippi River. The first documented specimen of C. asprella in Iowa was collected in Pool 11 of the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) in 1995. One specimen of E. chlorosomum was collected in Pool 13 of the UMR in 1998, and another was collected in 1999. The bluntnose darter had not been collected since 1975 and was generally thought to be extirpated in Iowa.