Morgan Raley

• PhD
• Consultant at HydroGENomics

Freshwater mussels of the order Unionida are key elements of freshwater habitats and are responsible for important ecological functions and services. Unfortunately, these bivalves are among the most threatened freshwater taxa in the world. However, conservation planning and management are hindered by taxonomic problems and a lack of detailed ecolog...

Blueback Herring (Alosa aestivalis) populations throughout the East Coast have declined precipitously since the late 1980s and were listed as a Species of Concern in 2006 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Natural resource agencies are attempting to restore this species to viable and sustainable levels with fry stockings...

As pressure from anthropomorphic stressors continues to negatively affect the abundance of wild fish populations, aquaculture‐based fisheries enhancement (i.e., sea ranching, stock enhancement, restocking) is being used increasingly as a management option to augment and restore wild stocks. However, as supplementation with cultured individuals may...

Sicydiine gobies are major contributors to Caribbean stream fish biodiversity, and ecosystem functions and services. In the Caribbean, Sicydiine gobies are represented by a single genus, Sicydium, but species-level Sicydium taxonomy and distributions remain unresolved in this region. A previous study posited that four species of Sicydium are presen...

Identification and conservation of genetic diversity within and among freshwater fish populations are important to better manage and conserve imperiled species. The Carolina Madtom Noturus furiosus is a small, nongame catfish that is endemic to the Tar and Neuse River basins of North Carolina. Genetic structure has not been studied in the species,...

The Bridle Shiner, Notropis bifrenatus (Cope, 1867), Family Leuciscidae, is a small minnow species that ranges in Atlantic coastal river drainages of eastern North America from the St. Lawrence in Canada southward to the Santee River basin of South Carolina. Over several decades notable declines throughout its range have been observed and multiple...

“Sirajo” is a generic term used colloquially to refer to a poorly studied group of fascinating amphidromous fishes ranging throughout the Caribbean. Adults, especially when in spawning condition, exhibit strikingly brilliant electric blue-green coloration. In some areas of the Caribbean, especially Puerto Rico (a Commonwealth of the US), the larval...

Percina brucethompsoni, the Ouachita Darter, is described as a new species endemic to the Oua-chita River system in the Ouachita Highlands of Arkansas. Bruce Thompson first noted the dis-tinctiveness of the new species from the nominal P. nasuta distributed in the White River and Arkansas River basins in his 1977 doctoral dissertation. The new spec...

This study illustrates the importance of identification of putative species or populations in the process of speciation using both molecular and morphometric techniques. Despite apparent genetic divergence across the drainages, we have shown that our groupings do not hold distinct morphotypes. Even using CVA to try to determine which morphological...

The cyprinid subfamily Oxygastrinae is composed of a diverse group of fishes that has been taxonomically and phyloge- netically problematic. Their great variation in appearance, life histories, and trophic diversity resulted in uncertainty re- garding their relationships, which led to their historical classification across many disparate subfamilie...

Anodontoides Simpson in Baker, 1898 is a North American genus in the unionid tribe Anodontini and is listed as containing two species, Anodontoides ferussacianus (Lea, 1834) [type species] and Anodontoides radiatus (Conrad, 1834) (Parmalee and Bogan 1998; Williams et al. 2008; Watters et al. 2009). A third species, Anodontoides denigrata (Lea, 1852...

The members of the cyprinid subfamily Gobioninae, commonly called gudgeons, form one of the most well-established assemblages in the family Cyprinidae. The subfamily is a species-rich group of fishes, these fishes display diverse life histories, appearances, and behavior. The phylogenetic relationships of Gobioninae are examined using sequence data...

New geographic distribution records are documented for 17 taxa of Arkansas fishes within seven families (Atherinopsidae, Catostomidae, Cyprinidae, Fundulidae, Lepisosteidae, Percidae, Petromyzontidae) from 15 counties of the central and northern portions of the state. Several species are reported from the Eleven Point (Notropis sabinae, Percina evi...

El pez chupón blanco, Moxostoma anisurum, está listado como amenazado y considerado como en peligro crítico (S1) en Arkansas por The Nature Conservancy. Sólo 12 registros entre 23 especímenes de esta especie provenientes de cinco ríos son conocidos en el estado. Un registro reciente es del río Strawberry en el condado de Lawrence del año 2007; éste...

The Fieryblack Shiner, Cyprinella pyrrhomelas, is among the most strikingly colored of the Carolina endemic fishes. Though very little has been published on the biology of the species, various studies have addressed its phylogenetic placement. During the summer of 2009, we noted NCSM’s tissue collection had good geographic coverage of the species,...

Genetic relationships between 35 spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) genogroup Ia isolates were determined based on the nucleotide sequences of the phosphoprotein (P) gene and glycoprotein (G) genes. Phylogenetic analysis based on P gene sequences revealed 2 distinct subgroups within SVCV genogroup Ia, designated SVCV Iai and Iaii, and suggests at...

The “Carolina” Redhorse is a rare, undescribed member of genus Moxostoma (Catostomidae) restricted to the Pee Dee and Cape Fear drainages in North and South Carolina. R. E. Jenkins recognized the species in 1995 and proposed it as sister to the Golden Redhorse, M. erythrurum, a widely distributed species occurring in the Mobile, Mississippi, Great...

Multiplex real-time PCR amplifying fecal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) combined with rapid, crude DNA preparations are promising additions to surface water source tracking methods. Amplification of eukaryotic mitochondrial DNA identifies the fecal source directly and can be used in conjunction with other intestinal microbial methods to characterize eff...

North America is home to the most diverse freshwater bivalve fauna in the world. However, it also has the distinction of having lost the most species to extinction, 32 species, than any other area in the world. Today, 75% of the native North American freshwater bivalve fauna (Unionoida) is imperiled. The rivers of the southern Atlantic Slope are po...

Phylogenetic analyses based on complete nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene were performed to determine generic assignment and composition of the Notropis dorsalis species group (Hybopsis vs Notropis) and to determine relationships among the five species within this group. Phylogenetic relationships were reconstructed at two...

Crystallaria asprella, sole member of the genus Crystallaria, was distributed throughout much of the eastern United States but today persists only in isolated populations. We quantified genetic variation among remaining populations of C. asprella by sequencing the mitochondrially encoded cytochrome b (cyt b) gene in 24 individuals from five sample...