Fish scale evidence for rapid post-glacial colonization of an Atlantic coastal pond

Abstract

Fish scales from the sediment of Allamuchy Pond, New Jersey, USA, indicate that fishes were present in the pond within 400 years of the time of the first deposition of organic material, at approximately 12,600 yrs BP. The earliest of the scales, from a white sucker, Catostomus commersoni, appears in sediment dated 12,260 +/- 220 yrs BP. Presence of scales in sediment deposited before I 0,000 yrs BP indicates that Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, sunfish, Lepomis sp., and yellow perch, Perca flavescens, also were early inhabitants of the pond. The timing of the arrival of each of these fishes suggests that they migrated out from Atlantic coastal refugia. A minnow scale, referred to Phoxininae, was also retrieved; it could not be matched to any cyprinid currently found in northeastern North America. The species present historically in this pond are from five families found currently in ponds throughout the Northeast and sugoest that the lentic palaeo-enviromnent was similar to present mid-elevation or high-latitude lentic systems.