Rare fish only found in area may receive federal protection

The slender, bug-eyed trispot darter swims through area rivers, staying close to the edges of waterways, with its pale undersurface and scattered dark blotches on its fin rays. The fish is not found anywhere else and now it could soon get federal protection.

It lives in North Georgia, North Alabama and Southeast Tennessee. In Georgia, it is endangered. In Tennessee, it is threatened. In Alabama, it is listed as a Priority 2 Species of High Conservation Concern.

For 50 years, researchers in Alabama thought the fish was extinct before a biologist found three in St. Clair County in 2008. No one knows exactly how many remain, but the population is small, and it’s shrinking, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

The trispot darter plays a vital part in the local food cycle, said Tierra Curry, of the Center for Biological Diversity. The center petitioned to try to protect the fish, which spawned the decision by the Fish and Wildlife Service to review its protection. The fish eats insects and helps control the local ecosystem and is then eaten by larger fish.