Teamwork helps keep rare tiny fish alive

By ANNE PAINE • Staff Writer • May 10, 2008

The rare Barrens Topminnow, a tiny fish unique to Middle Tennessee, is getting a shot at survival without going on the Endangered Species list.

Instead, the fish, which tops out at only four inches in length, is part of a pilot restoration project based on cooperation rather than severe legal restrictions.


"We looked at ways to save the fish without having 'big government' come in,'" said Matt Hamilton, senior aquarist at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. The minnows were in streams crossing the land of less than a half dozen property owners, Hamilton said, which made it easier to devise a cooperative project with state and federal and private agencies.

Several landowners have been willing to fence cattle out of the creeks or make other accommodations to protect the water. Margaret and Steve Cunningham of Manchester are among about two dozen landowners who have allowed release of the minnows in a creek on their property.

"It's an interesting experiment in science," Margaret Cunningham said.

Since 75 percent of the costs for fencing around part of the creek on their farm was paid by government money, she said, it raises questions about "why help a dying fish?"

"The flip side is that this fish is somewhere in the food chain," she said. "If you can keep a healthy food chain, then the quality of your environment's running pretty good."

About 500 of the species raised at the Tennessee Aquarium were put into streams on May 1 at locations in Franklin, Coffee and Cannon counties, bringing the total to 19,000 that have been released. "We're probably halfway to the goal of having 15 sites with viable populations," Hamilton said.

The project has turned out to be "a good option," in this case but wouldn't work for many endangered species, said Lee Barclay with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, one of the partners in the effort.

Most species have too wide a range, he said.
Hurdles remain for fish

The Barrens Topminnow faces more hurdles.

"It's getting to be a more stable situation, but it's still precarious because we have a new threat that wasn't there ten years ago," Barclay said.

One of the fish's nemeses is the Western Mosquito Fish, which have been introduced largely for pest control, even though native fish do a good job of eating mosquito larvae.

The outsiders, which eat the minnows' young, can quickly take over a creek and crowd out the Topminnows.

http://www.tennessea...m/apps/pbcs.dll ... 00366/1006

Nice article. Thank you!

There was a man named Pat Rakes, who gave a talk at a Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society (GCAS.ORG) meeting about Barrens Topminnows a couple of years ago. It was an interesting speech, and was a great example of why invasives are so damaging. Ironic that the Barrens Topminnow is such a similar fish to the Northern Studfish, and their fates are so divergent. (The Northern Studfish is invasive in this area itself).

By the way, Pat works with Randy Shutes at Conservation Fisheries. (conservationfisheries.org)

This is from their website: " Conservation Fisheries saves rare freshwater fish via captive propagation and low-impact monitoring. We are dedicated to the preservation of aquatic biodiversity and habitats in the southeastern United States. Some of America's rarest and most beautiful aquatic treasures might disappear forever without our efforts. We propagate rare native freshwater fish in the only such hatchery in the US. Our propagated fish can be released into wild habitats to bolster existing populations, or to restore populations that have been eliminated. We also maintain "ark" populations of species facing possible extinction,"

Other land use factors affect the Barrens' topminnow. A lot of tree farming in the area uses a strangely large amount of local groundwater. Ironically, much of this tree farming is to produce trees for Arbor Day so that everyone can plant a tree and save the world. I guess it's better to sprout your own tree and then plant it. The Barrens is a strange area anyway in terms of geology and flora. The question of why several populations of the subgenus Xenisma became endemic species around the midsouth -- julisiae in the Barrens; albolineatus in Huntsville, AL (now extinct); bifax in the Tallapoosa drainage of AL and GA-- is still one of those odd questions. All three species need(ed) clean, cool water, and if humans screw with that the fish disappears. Same old, same old.

Yeah. Gambusia wouldn't do as well as they do now in the historically less productive, cold, clear water. As well, if there weren't cows dumping in every bank in Coffee County, the distribution could be continuous instead of relegated to a handful of springheads that were dammed up.

I wish they'd just kick everyone out of that county and make it a preserve. If not that, at least buy up the Barren Fork before it's too <ahem> Forked up.

Todd

Arnold Air Force Base is an amazingly diverse area, and is presumably representative of what much of that area was like before it became so developed. Unfortunately, Tennessee has few resources to purchase land for conservation, even though our current governor is fairly conservation-minded. That so many of the landowners have agreed to protect the Barrens topminnows is amazing, and a sign of a major change in attitudes among rural landowners. I just hope it's enough.

Speaking of karstland endemics, my uncle in Florence, AL is convinced that the Alabama cavefish was made up by biologists as part of an elaborate government swindle. The traditional, and largely deserved, mistrust of the government and other 'authority' in rural areas is as big an issue, and perhaps a more intractable one, as financial considerations or reluctance to change old habits on the part of landowners.

I don't really consider The Barrens *that* kind of rural tho. I mean, afterall, the Webb School is there in Maury County, blew my mind when we drove by it on accident and I went home and looked it up.

That area is one place where people who's stopped to see what was going on have actually given me more locations to try after talking with them... Wasn't the paranoia you see elsewhere. I just think the farmers didn't know that the cows and phosphate were "bad". People have also really grabbed on to the livestock watering techniques there.

I think it's a kinder, gentler type of rurality. This may all contribute to their acceptance of julisa... But perhaps it was Pat and JR who were the face of that work, not "THE GOVERNMENT". Esp not some damned Yankee who came to tell them what to do lol.

Also doesn't hurt that julisa eats mosquitoes

It's just not all happening fast enough for preservation (it's really moving into restoration phase), and I've been concerned by the number of new McMansions that have popped up in just the 4 years I've been looking at that area. The lawns and imperviouses are what's going to really kill springs.

Todd

It's great that the TN aquarium has been able to expand the already enormous amount of work done by Pat, JR and the other folks at Conservation Fisheries, Inc. (CFI). When I was in TN I learned a lot going out with CFI... really they got me doing a lot more snorkeling instead of just dragging the seine around. The Barrens is a really cool place, I think I've said that in 1/3 of my posts so far, but it is definitely heavily impacted. There are a few creeks that are completely cowed out, with only a few species left in them. The water from some of those creeks could pass as concentrated fertilizer. Or possibly it is an experiment in raising algae for biofuels?

If I'm not mistaken, F. julisiae are also being raised at the Dale Hollow hatchery. I'm not sure if the projects are coordinated or not.

I think they're raising them everywhere someone will allow them to set up 300 gallon stock tubs

That's the really amazing thing about this particular species. It's not that they're hard to raise or aren't proliferant. They just can't take sedimentation, algification and gambusia.