NASHVILLE, Tenn.― In response to decades of advocacy by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed to protect the Barrens darter as an endangered species. Named for its home on the Barrens Plateau of central Tennessee, the darter is one of North America’s most imperiled fish.

“I’m so glad Barrens darters are finally getting the life-saving protection of the Endangered Species Act,” said Meg Townsend, a senior attorney at the Center. “Freshwater species are under incredible threat from reduced safeguards for wetlands. Endangered species protections will give future generations the best chance to see these incredible little fish as they wander Tennessee’s streams.”

The Barrens darter only survives in a few headwater streams that feed the Collins River, a tributary of the Caney Fork of the Cumberland River between Nashville and Chattanooga. Two of the darter’s last seven populations have already been lost, and the five that remain survive in less than roughly 6 miles of streams. Each population is tiny and isolated from the others, making them more vulnerable to being wiped out.

The Barrens darter was identified as a candidate for Endangered Species Act protection in 1994, and the Center petitioned the Service in 2010 to protect the darter. Despite agency scientists predicting that two more of the darter’s remaining populations might soon be lost, in 2019 the agency denied them protections.

Today’s proposal is the result of a successful Center lawsuit challenging that denial. The proposal also indicates the Service will designate critical habitat for the fish at a later time.

Within the Barrens darter’s narrow range, poor grazing practices have stripped streams of plants that help stabilize banks, causing sediment runoff that smothers life on the stream bottom. The proliferation of water-intensive row crops and nurseries in the area has reduced stream flows, which worsens water quality, particularly during increasingly frequent periods of severe drought. Barrens darters are also imminently threatened by hybridization with the introduced fringed darter.

Barrens darters are a unique species in the perch family: They produce sounds and are distinguished by the parental care the male provides, including nest guarding. A male will establish a territory around a cavity under a flat rock and attract a female based on his body size and the quality of his nest cavity. Males produce knocks, drums and purrs to court females and defend the nest cavity from other males. Once a female has chosen to spawn, the pair will invert under the rock, and the female will adhere eggs to the underside of the rock in a single layer. The male will clean the eggs and guard them from predators until they hatch.

“The Fish and Wildlife Service should move swiftly to finalize protections for these gentle little fishes and the places they live,” said Townsend. “Protecting Tennessee’s rich biodiversity will ensure streams are protected so that people, plants and animals can have the fresh water we all need to thrive.”