Tooth Replacement and Food of the Cyprinid Notropis cerasinus from the Roanoke River, Virginia

Abstract

Examination of 504 pairs of pharyngeal arches of the cyprinid Notropis cerasinus collected monthly from the Roanoke River near Shawsville, Virginia, June 1955-May 1957, revealed a constant 3-1-2-4 pattern of tooth replacement. This pattern remained unchanged throughout the seasons. The primary food items found in the stomachs of 578 specimens were chironomids, simuliids, trichopterids and coleopterids. We wish to present data on the tooth replacement pattern and sequence in the cyprinid Notropis cerasinus (Cope) and to consider whether the former are influenced seasonally by the types of food eaten. The life history study of Stagner (1959), based on the same specimens examined herein (which were loaned to her and constitute part of the collections by the senior author from the Roanoke River at Shawsville, Virginia), has shown that N. cerasinus has a life span of four years with males growing faster than females. The males are 35 mm in total length as young of the year; 55 mm when one year old; 65 mm when two years old, and 80 mm when 3-4 years old. To date this is the only study, other than those concerning distribution (Fowler, 1945; Raney, 1950; Moore, 1957), regarding this species. Evans and Deubler (1955) have presented, for a single collection of Semotilus atromaculatus and Clinostomus elongatus, the only tooth replacement data for North American cyprinid fishes and have ably reviewed the meager literature on pharyngeal tooth replacement. Belogurov (1940) has commented on the tooth replacement pattern in European carp. Horoszewicz (1960) has defined the changing shapes of twenty-one European species of cyprinids. Recently Barankov (1960) has shown that three species of wolffish have seasonal patterns of tooth shedding while Vladykov and Mukerji (1961) have called attention to the various changing forms of infraoral lamina in landlocked Petromyzon marinus with age. Evans (1950) noted the arrangement of replacement teeth in the carp, Cyprinus carpio; longnose dace, Rhinichthys cataractae; creek chub, Semotilus atromaculatus; and golden shiner, Notemigonus c. crysoleucas, all collected near Ithaca, New York. Trautman and Hubbs (1948) investigated seasonal effects on the replacement of teeth in Esox and recorded tooth positions. Recently Edmund (1960) has contributed new and startling data on jaw tooth replacement of reptiles and other poikilotherms. Individuals of Notropis cerasinus were collected monthly from June, 1955 through May, 1957, from a 1.5-mile section of the Roanoke River 1 Contribution No. 208, Natural Resources Institute of the University of Maryland, Solomons, Maryland.