Fish and Crustaceans

Crayfish

NPS photo

Game fish in the Niobrara include channel catfish, carp, bluegill, green sunfish, grass pickerel, and many other fish species. Rainbow and brown trout are present in several spring-branch canyon tributaries.

Go to the Fishing page for more information on sportfishing.

The Niobrara River drainage contains the largest number of fish species occurring in Nebraska. The Scenic River is unique in that it contains several species representing glacial relict populations, including the pearl dace and blacknose shiner. The latter species is almost entirely limited in Nebraska to the cool, clear side streams of the Scenic River. Blacknose shiners and pearl dace are currently state listed threatened species and status changes have been proposed for both species by Nebraska Game and Parks Commission biologists. Blacknose shiners are extremely rare in Nebraska, and the last known sighting of this species occurred in the Niobrara drainage. Previous studies on pearl dace populations within the designated reach and its tributaries found them to be more widely distributed and abundant in the Sandhills region than originally thought. In addition, the Niborara River and its tributaries also provide important potential habitat for other state listed sensitive species including finescale dace and northern redbelly dace.

Threatened and endangered species

 

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Species Attribute Definitions

Definitions

Occurrence

Occurrence values are defined below. One or more Occurrence Tags may be associated with each Occurrence value.

Present: Species occurs in park; current, reliable evidence available.

Probably Present: High confidence species occurs in park but current, verified evidence needed.

Unconfirmed: Species is attributed to park but evidence is weak or absent.

Not In Park: Species is not known to occur in park.

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Occurrence Tags

Adjacent: Species is known to occur in areas near to or contiguous with park boundaries.

False Report: Species was reported to occur within the park, but current evidence indicates the report was based on misidentification, a taxonomic concept no longer accepted, or other similar problem of error or interpretation.

Historical: Species' historical occurrence in park is documented. Assigned based on judgment as opposed to determination based on age of the most recent evidence.

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Abundance

Abundant:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, and counted in relatively large numbers.
• Plants: Large number of individuals; wide ecological amplitude or occurring in habitats covering a large portion of the park.

Common:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, but not in large numbers.
• Plants: Large numbers of individuals predictably occurring in commonly encountered habitats but not those covering a large portion of the park.

Uncommon:

• Animals: Likely to be seen monthly in appropriate habitat and season. May be locally common.
• Plants: Few to moderate numbers of individuals; occurring either sporadically in commonly encountered habitats or in uncommon habitats.

Rare:

• Animals: Present, but usually seen only a few times each year.
• Plants: Few individuals, usually restricted to small areas of rare habitat.

Occasional:

• Animals: Occurs in the park at least once every few years, varying in numbers, but not necessarily every year.
• Plants: Abundance variable from year to year (e.g., desert plants).

Unknown: Abundance unknown

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Nativeness

Native: Species naturally occurs in park or region.

Non-native: Species occurs on park lands as a result of deliberate or accidental human activities.

Unknown: Nativeness status is unknown or ambiguous.

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List Differences

The Checklist contains only those species that are designated as "present" or "probably present" in the park.

The Full List includes all the checklist species in addition to species that are unconfirmed, historically detected, or incorrectly reported as being found in the park. The full list also contains species that are "in review" because their status in the park hasn't been fully determined. Additional details about the status of each species is included in the full list.

The checklist will almost always contain fewer species than the full list.

Select a Park:

Niobrara National Scenic River

Select a Species Category (optional):

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Species attribute definitions

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