TVA biologist, Yale professor find new fish found only in Tennessee

A Tennessee Logperch is identified by the round splotches on the sides of its body. (Photo: Tennessee Valley Authority)
A Tennessee Logperch is identified by the round splotches on the sides of its body. (Photo: Tennessee Valley Authority)

Behold the Tennessee Logperch.

The fish, a darter, can grow to be 6 inches long. It has flattened little splotches on its flanks. That the splotches are flattened is important; those are what first led TVA aquatic biologist Jeff Simmons and Yale professor Tom Near to suspect they had discovered a new fish.

Simmons explains that finding a new species of fish in the 21st century is more a matter of closely observing what is before our eyes than coming upon a lost island that holds two-headed dragons.

Read more at our news partner's website, knoxnews.com.

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