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Pigg, J., R. Gibbs and H. Weeks (1991). Recent increases in number of skipjack herring, Alosa chrysochloris (Rafinesque), in the Arkansas River, Oklahoma. Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science. 71:49-50.

The skipjack herring Alosa chrysochloris is a highly migratory freshwater species common to the Mississippi River and its larger tributaries north to Minnesota and South Dakota. In 1946 small numbers of young skipjacks were collected from five sites on the Illinois River between Flint Creek and the mouth of the Illinois River near Gore. The skipjack herring also has been collected in the tailwaters of the Red River below Lake Texoma. The species was not found in the pre-impoundment surveys conducted by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) of the Arkansas and Cimarron rivers in the area of the proposed Lake Keystone in 1961. Annual fish collections by ODWC using gill netting, electrofishing, and seining have produced the following numbers of skipjack from mainstream reservoirs of the Arkansas River: from Robert S. Kerr Lake, 1 in 1979, 28 in 1980, none in 1981, 9 in 1982, 12 in 1983, 31 in 1984, 3 in 1985 , 8 in 1986, 45 in 1988, and 18 in 1990. From Webbers Falls Lake , ODWC obtained 15 in 1981, 2 in 1982, 7 in 1983, 1 in 1985, and 27 in 1988, and from W. D. Mayo Lake, 29 in 1987 and 7 in 1988. The skipjack herring appears to be more abundant today then before impoundment of the Arkansas River in the 1970s. The upstream distribution is now limited to the Arkansas River below the Keystone Dam. The lakes of the Arkansas navigational system have provided a desirable habitat and may account for the recent increases in the skipjack. (Brunone-PTT)