Petitcodiac River - Wildlife

Wildlife

Before the construction of the causeway, the Petitcodiac River was home to many aquatic species. Fish originally included hundreds of thousands of Atlantic tomcod and rainbow smelt, tens of thousands of gaspereau and American shad, thousands of American eel, Atlantic salmon, brook trout, lamprey, and striped bass and hundreds of Atlantic sturgeon. Other fish include the blueback herring, the brown bullhead, the chain pickerel, the smallmouth bass, the white perch, and the white sucker. Marine mammals were uncommon, but normally consisted of pilot whales, Atlantic white-sided dolphins, harbour porpoise, harbour seals, and porbeagles. Freshwater mollusc species included the brook floater, the dwarf wedgemussel, the Eastern ellipto, the Eastern floater, the Eastern pearlshell, and the triangle floater. Many other aquatic organisms are thought to have once entered the watershed due to the low salinity of the water.

Six species have disappeared from the river since the mid-1980s. The Petitcodiac River was the only known Canadian habitat of the dwarf wedgemussel, and was later isolated to just nine American watersheds after its elimination from the Petitcodiac. The Atlantic salmon is no longer present in the watershed, and has since been listed as an endangered species in Canada. The American shad was a favourite with fishermen, and represented two-thirds of the entire Canadian shad landings from 1870 to 1900; catches peaked at 0.91 to 2.7 million kilograms (two to six million pounds) per year. Three other species have been eliminated from the river: the striped bass, the Atlantic sturgeon, and the Atlantic tomcod. However, a project of the Petitcodiac Riverkeeper, funded by the Government of Canada's Environmental Damage Fund in 2005, noted that the removal of the causeway would result in a "good" chance of bringing back the eliminated species, and an "excellent" chance of increasing the numbers of species deemed to have been reduced in numbers. No data has been released for the Atlantic salmon or the striped bass.

Various insects and arachnids reside around the Petitcodiac River. Among them is the stonefly, the mayfly, the caddisfly, the simulium, the subfamily of tanypodinae, and the Hydracarina. Non-native species, such as the black-footed spider, the beech scale, the white-marked tussock moth, and the mountain ash sawfly have also made their home in the Petitcodiac River watershed. At the southern extremities of the watershed, 50 to 90 percent of the world's Semipalmated Sandpipers feed on the mud shrimp at Shepody Bay. Around 269,445 stop there before migrating to South America, a number which accounts for at least 7.7 percent of the total population. Among others, the Semipalmated Plover (around 2 percent of the North American population), the Short-billed Dowitcher, the Red Knot, the Sanderling, and the Least Sandpiper are also known for migrating through the Important Bird Area (IBA).

A diverse number of plant species reside in the watershed as well. Red, white, and black spruce, red maple, white birch, and trembling aspen are the most common. Jack pine is commonly found in regions that fires have repeatedly ravished, while cedar is found in bogs and areas where gypsum and limestone are present. Higher altitude slopes and ridgetops house sugar maple, beech, and yellow birch trees. Zelazny et al. note that " high frequency of disturbed sites dominated by aspen stands reveals the degree of historical and recent human disturbance along the Petitcodiac River." The Petitcodiac River's riparian zone houses a number of trees, including willows, white spruce, white pine, and speckled alder. Other trees, such as the tamarack and white pine, can also be found in the watershed. Plants such as the rufous bulrush tend to grow near calcareous areas, and hemlock can be found in small, pure stands. Alien plant species include the Mother-of-Thyme, the Japanese barberry, the Scotch Broom, the yellow flag, and Canada bluegrass.

In 1937, the 37,000 year-old skeleton of a mastodon was discovered by workers near Hillsborough. It was in near perfect condition and was transported to the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John, where it has been displayed ever since.