History of Ichthyology in the Dakotas

From prehistory to the present day, this chapter details all of the fish collections that have occurred in North Dakota (ND) and South Dakota (SD) beginning with the discovery of the fossil of the oldest fish in the world. Observations of fish species in the Dakotas began with the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804, with the first scientific surveys conducted by John Evans and Robert Kennicott in the 1850s. Additional surveys in the later 1800s recorded additional fish species North Dakota and South Dakota. The next major fish surveys were completed by Bailey and Allum in South Dakota and by Owen in North Dakota in 1962 and 1981, respectively. Several academics and graduate students have made major contributions to fish distribution knowledge in each state since the 1970s. This chapter concludes by listing their accomplishments, describing the fish reference collection at South Dakota State University, and graphically indicating the locations where vouchered specimens were collected.