Orange-throated darters were common at the upper Marais des Cygnes and
upper Neosho stations in 1959, rare at the middle and lower Neosho
stations, and absent from the middle and lower Marais des Cygnes
stations. The species was found almost exclusively on upstream riffles
over gravel-rubble bottom. The population in the upper Neosho was
decimated by drought, and the fish did not become common until the
summer of 1959, the third year after resumption of normal stream-flow.
Deacon and Metcalf (1961:320) indicated that long periods of
intermittency result in depletion or elimination of populations of the
orange-throated darter in the Wakarusa River, Kansas. A limited number
of orange-throated darters probably survived in the few permanent pools
in the upper Neosho and provided the brood-stock necessary to repopulate
this section of the stream.
#Aplodinotus grunniens# Rafinesque