Basic data for mussels and fish commonly found at Illinois archaeological sites

Taxon	Common names	Comments: prehistoric and historic	Comments: modern
Habitat	Modern distribution	Food	Spawning
Amblema plicata	Threeridge, blue-point, purple-tip, fluter
Preferred habitat: Small to large rivers; Greatest abundance on sand and gravel bottoms in 1-3 feet of water; tolerant of mud; large river form can be found in deep water (3-20 feet) on mud or mud/sand bottom in current	One of most common and widespread, occurs in small streams, in creeks, and in headwaters and shallow parts of large rivers; sometimes in lake without current	Siphons in microorganisms like plankton, bacteria,and diatoms	Glochidia expelled for attachment to a fish’s gills
Amia calva	Bowfin, dogfish, grindle	Though little esteemed for food, in 1903 the 1 million+ pound catch was worth nearly $11,000 to markets all over the U.S. (F&R p.40).	Ancient fish, extinct except for 1 species. Bowfin are now considered inedible. Suffers from loss of habitat (draining of backwaters and swamps; and decline of clear, well-vegetated settings)
Preferred habitat: oxbows, backwater pools, shallow, clear, well-vegetated water.	Still found in swamps, sloughs, and glacial lakes of NE IL	Small animals like other fish, crayfish, snails, mussels	Late spring-early summer (April 1-June or July 1) in nests in weedy backwaters and bays
Esox lucius	Northern pike	Numbers in IL R decreased by 1900 according to F&R 1908
Preferred habitat: Lakes, marshes, pools of creeks, and in large rivers	Once throughout IL R, but now only north of Havana	Fish, crayfish, insects, frogs, reptiles, and sometimes small birds and mammals	March, Eggs spread over bottom in clear shallow backwaters and in flooded weedy bottomland
Cyprinus carpio	Carp	Chinese species, Introduced to IL in 1879; Muddies waters by habit of rooting in bottom
Preferred habitat: Most numerous in soft-bottomed pools of rivers, but found nearly every aquatic setting. Also common around brush piles, weedy overflow area, and sewage outlets	All over the state, in all types of water except cold, brooks, and fast riffles	Plant and animal matter, fish eggs	Throughout spring and early summer, eggs scattered over bottom debris
Ictiobus cyprinellus [I. niger is found with I. cyprinellus and has similar habits]	Bigmouth buffalo, Red-mouth buffalo		Usually less than 10 lbs, but up to 80lbs
Preferred habitat: Large rivers, medium-sized rivers, oxbows, bottomland lakes along margin of large rivers. (Sporadic in small rivers; only in creeks where meets large rivers)	Throughout state; Most abundant in low gradient reaches of IL R and associated floodplain	Plankton, immature insects	Spring, eggs scattered over bottom debris
Ictalurus punctatus	Channel catfish, fiddler		Suffered from siltation and loss of habitat due to large streams becoming small during dry periods
Preferred habitat: Medium to large rivers that are clear, fast, and with sand-gravel bottoms	Throughout state, very abundant in major rivers large streams	Fish and animal matter	June, spawns in a nest
Micropterus salmoides	Largemouth bass, Large-mouthed black bass		Ecologically tolerant, thus found in all types of water.
Preferred habitat: Weedy oxbows and clear flooplain lakes; also in swamps, ponds, lakes, reservoirs, large rivers and creeks.	Abundant throughout the state	Young on plankton; Adults on insects and crustaceans, fish	May-June, spawn over nests in gravel or vegetation in quiet water of bays and inlets
Aplodinotus grunniens	Freshwater drum, croaker, sheepshead, white perch, lake drum, grunt, bubbler, grinder, river drum, thunder pumper, Gaspergou	At one time it was not a valued food fish, but in 1899 more than 400 thousand pounds of drum went to market, with the desired individual weight being ¾ -3 pounds (F&R:324)	May have been more common in medium-sized rivers before they fluctuated in size as they do now.
Preferred habitat: Large rivers and lakes, ascends small tributary rivers; bottom-dwelling, most abundant in turbid water	Very abundant in large rivers, sporadic in smaller streams	Young on benthic insects and crustaceans; Adults eat crayfish, and fish may feed on mollusks; known to feed on zebra mussels	Unknown in IL In MN in May and June after water reaches 66F In Lake Erie spawning occurs in shallow water in July Release eggs near surface into deep open water of lakes and large rivers; fertilized eggs float at surface

References
Mussels: (104 species) - Parmalee 1967; and Cummings & Mayer 1992
Fish: (181 species statewide according to INHS) - from Smith (1979); Nicole Paulson & Jay T. Hatch for drum in Minnesota (www.gen.umn.edu/research/fish/fishes/freshwater_drum.html#size) and (www.seagrant.wisc.edu/greatlakesfish/textonly/drum.html) for drum in Great Lakes; Forbes & Richardson 1920 for some of the common names and historic comments regarding Illinois.
Note: Forbes & Richardson (1920:26) state the following for Acipenser fulvescens: “The quantity of lake sturgeon taken from the Illinois River in 1894 was 2,145 lb, while the Mississippi on our borders the same year furnished 37,366 lb. In 1899 the Illinois River product had fallen 635 lb, and in 1903 no lake sturgeon at all were reported from the Illinois.” They also note that the poundage taken from interior waters (i.e., excluding the Great Lakes) fell rather dramatically.