North American "Loaches"

[ecitraro]

Hi, I have a couple of loaches and have recently thrilled to see the expanded species listed on this site! How amazing all these loaches are!

I was wondering, since there are such diverse species spread from the Near to Far East (Siberia-China-Korea-Indochina-India) are there species in North America? I have been looking around the internet and wonder about "bowfin - Amia calva", "Noturus insignis, margined madtom", "Noturus gyrinus - tadpole madtom" seems to be very much like the descriptions of loaches.

[Jim Powers]

The only "wild" loaches in North America are a few populations of dojos(Misgurnas anguillicaudatus) that have escaped into the wild. I know there are some in Oregon, Idaho, California and even Michigan, and possibly elsewhere.
The Bowfin (Amia calva) is the only remaining fish in an ancient family. They look similar to snakeheads with a long body and dorsal fin and are found in a variety of habitats in eastern US and southern Canada. I have caught them while fishing in fast water at the outflow of a glacial lake in northeastern Indiana, but they would be just as much at home in a Louisiana bayou. Very interesting fish.
Madtoms, on the other hand, are very small catfish of the genus Notorus found in the central and eastern US and southern Canada. They are generally found in streams (usually with good current) and range from about 2-6 inches. I haven't seen one of these fish since I was a kid catching crawdads, frogs and minnows in local creeks.

[ecitraro]

I was also a kid fishing in Iowa and now see that a lot of the species of bottom dwellers are pretty endangered. Undoubtedly, there may have been species that went unrecorded and didn't survive to the present. I remember when the water was so bad from agricultural run-off that it was posted that humans should not touch the water or eat anything from it in the river near my school.

I appreciate all the knowledge that this site seems to generate. Thank you for the information.

[Jim Powers]

What is nice is that the quality of the water is improving in many places and fish are returning. The river that ran by my childhood home town was brown and dirty with ag runoff. Now it is much cleaner and clearer and has sauger, striped bass, catfish and other gamefish in addition to the carp and other rough fish that were the main catches years ago.
Further north in Indiana, some of the Lake Michigan tributaries were horribly polluted with all types of industrial waste from the steel mills and chemical industries. Now there are substantial trout and salmon runs. There are still problems with some toxic sediments, but that is being addressed.