Conservation Round-Up

Spawning Season Has Commenced!

Candy Darters *(Etheostoma osburni)* spawning at the Conservation Fisheries facility

If you’re new here, the spring is an exciting time to be at Conservation Fisheries. By this time, many of the species in our care are spawning, leaving us little treasures (eggs) to find, hatch, and raise. Our earliest spawners this season were Leopard Darters, followed closely by the Roanoke Logperch. Not to be outdine, Candy Darters, Pearl Darters, and Boulder Darters were close on their tails. All five of these benthic (bottom dwelling) darter species hatch out semi-pelagic larvae, meaning they are free swimming for the first several weeks of their lives until becoming benthic like their parents.

Blackside Dace (*Chrosomus cumberlandensis*) spawning at the Conservation Fisheries facility

Tennessee Dace are also spawning! They used to be our resident nest associate species, but we’ve recently brought in their cousins the Blackside Dace. Blacksides were a few weeks behind but have officially begun laying their eggs! Dace are extremely prolific spawners, so it’s to be determined which of the two species yields the most eggs this season.

Many of the species in our care lay their egg nests on the underside of rocks, and these are easily collected from the wild. Wild collections instead of in-facility propagation encourages increased genetic diversity, because multiple females will lay their eggs on a rock guarded by a single male. We’ve so far collected our Buck Darter nests, and just recently brought in wild nests of Duskytail Darters and Marbled Darters! We will also collect nests of Yellowfin Madtoms, though their nests are laid in cavities underneath rocks as opposed to on the rocks. Later on our spawning roster are Carolina Madtoms, Spotfin Chub, and Barrens Topminnow, which are all propagated in our facility! We look forward to having more updates about them in our next newsletter.

Volunteer Program

Longtime volunteer, Grace, tagging along on a Barrens Topminnow release

Conservation Fisheries is entering our 19th season of our Volunteer Program with four continuing volunteers and one new! We began this program a few years ago with the intention of getting a little bit of help in the facility and wanting to give undergraduates an opportunity to see first-hand the exciting conservation work that we do. We had never imagined it would grow to be as big as it is now, and we’re grateful for all of the students and community members that have both shown interest in and joined our program!

We hope to soon develop an Internship Program, bringing on paid interns to assist conservation biologists working with rare and imperiled fishes. For now, while that program is still in development, we’re happy to have the opportunity to bring on a summer intern from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville who, as an extension of our Volunteer Program, can use their time at CFI for an internship course credit. We look forward to the pilot summer for this concept!

The next volunteer season will be this fall, with the season beginning in September and running through November. Applications for the fall season will go out the first week of August.

Save the Date

May 16th - Endangered Species Day

At Conservation Fisheries we tend to celebrate endangered species every day, and are even more thrilled to do so on Endangered Species Day! The third Friday in May is a day to recognize and showcase the incredible species that, due to various factors, face extinction. The work we do in our facility aims to restore the wild populations of some of these species, and even to keep some at-risk species off the Endangered Species List in the first place! If you find this work meaningful and are wondering how you can help, we are always accepting donations through our website. Any little bit helps to keep our operations running, our biologists paid, and the fish in our care happy and healthy!

June

We hope to be hosting another panel soon. Stay tuned!

July 26th - Little River Community Day

Each summer we partner with Little River Watershed Association to host a community day celebrating the biodiversity and recreation associated with the Little River. Check back for more details soon!

Species Spotlight

Blotchside Logperch - Percina burtoni

Have you ever seen a fish with a sillier nose? Blotchside Logperch, without bearing the name, are technically a darter species! Along with other logperches and a few darters, they fall under the genus Percina. There is a wide variety of darters within Percina, as their main shared characteristic are enlarged scales on their bellies that are not present on Etheostoma (most other darters). Blotchsides, true to their name, have an elongated body with large, round blotches on their sides. They use their pointy snouts to flip rocks both to find tasty microorganisms and to impress and court potential mates. Spawning typically occurs in streams and rivers with high flows. Their eggs are deposited into the substrate, which is well oxygenated by the swift water, keeping the eggs well hidden by predators until they hatch.

Conservation Fisheries has been working with the Blotchside Logperch in a variety of ways for nearly 20 years, allowing us to observe their behaviors both in the wild and in our facility. The Species Lead, Curt, works to make sure everything in our facility is set up just right for a successful spawning and rearing season. Blotchsides are one of the largest species of fish that we work with, meaning that they need more space and food than some of the smaller darters in order to thrive in our care. Their larvae tend to hatch out pretty large, too! At this stage they are semi-pelagic, requiring a few weeks of steady flow similar to their wild environment, before settling down to be benthic like their parents. They grow quickly, and if held at too high of densities, tend to exhibit carnivorous behaviors, snacking on their brothers and sisters.

Over the last several years we’ve had to overcome a few hurdles with this species. Recent drought conditions in Tennessee seem to have a negative impact on the Blotchsides, causing stress conditions in the fish. When fish are stressed they’re more susceptible to diseases or parasitic organisms. While collecting Blotchsides during drought conditions we’ve noticed some have leeches or gill flukes attached to them, which we have to gently remove in order for them to thrive in our care and to successfully reproduce.

Blotchside Logperch are not currently listed under the Endangered Species Act, so all of the work we do with them is in an effort to restore and support their populations and keep them from becoming eligible for listing status. This restoration effort includes monitoring, propagation in our facility, and releasing the species into suitable wild habitats.

Community Outreach

Marley chatting about fish at Party for the Planet

Tremont Field Day

On Wednesday, April 9th, we spent the day with students from Tremont’s Environmental and Community Leaders Fellowship (ECLF) Program, a partnership with Fulton High School. During this field day experience, students had the opportunity to learn firsthand how we conduct fish surveys and collections using seine nets. They also participated in macroinvertebrate sampling and engaged in field journaling activities. Through the ECLF program, students are encouraged to connect with the natural world while exploring potential career paths in environmental science and conservation.

West High School Field Trip at Ijams Nature Center

On Friday, April 4th, we joined West High School for a Collaborative Science Project held at Ijams Nature Center. This initiative was a joint effort with Ijams, Discover Life in America, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy, Tremont, and the National Park Service. The project brought together West High School’s Junior IB students to collect both terrestrial and aquatic data at various sites across the nature center. The primary goal was to provide students with hands-on experience in applying scientific methods in the field as well as to provide Ijams with data they can use for future studies.

Zoo Knoxville - Party for the Planet

On Saturday, April 12th, we spent the day at Zoo Knoxville for their Party for the Planet event. This family-friendly celebration featured interactive activities for kids as well as informational booths focused on how individuals can help protect and preserve a healthy environment. We had the chance to connect with so many families, sharing the mission of Conservation Fisheries and highlighting the importance of keeping our waterways clean. Plus, we handed out lots of native fish coloring sheets (which are also available for download through our website shop)!

Season Highlights

Barrens Topminnow Surveys

Barrens Topminnow *(Fundulus julisia)* surveys

During the early spring every year Conservation Fisheries partners with the Tennessee Aquarium, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct annual surveys of the Barrens Topminnow! The work preventing this species from extinction is extremely collaborative, and it’s always a great time getting together with our partners to check on the wild native and rehabilitation sites. We hope to soon identify additional sites to add to our annual surveys, but more about that later!

In addition to these annual surveys, we joined Tennessee Tech graduate student Kirsten Humphries in her surveys of a more recently discovered population of Barrens Topminnows! The discovery of this population by Robert Lamb, a long-time friend to Conservation Fisheries and current volunteer, was big news for this species. With much of it’s previously known native habitat under a lot of distress, knowing that there’s a healthy and thriving population elsewhere gives conservationists hope for the future of this species. We’re looking forward to seeing the results that come from Kirsten’s work!

Blackside Dace Collection

There’s generally not a ton of field work going on in the spring, mostly because we don’t want to disrupt many of the (common and rare) aquatic species that are spawning! However, sometimes it is valuable to collect fish just before their spawning season, so that they’re all geared up and ready to go once they’ve settled into our facility. This was the case this year for the Blackside Dace! We collected several breeding adults earlier this spring and are now seeing them successfully spawn in their tanks. See our video about collecting this species here!

Smallmouth Buffalo Run

Every year we are graced with the presence of Smallmouth Buffalo at a nearby creek up in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park! Buffalo are a native, migratory fish, meaning that while they spend most of their year in bigger rivers, they swim up into the shallow tributaries to spawn. They migrate en masse, exhibiting a beautiful display of community, chaos that is exhilarating to watch. Their spawning event usually only lasts a few days, causing us to race up to the creek, often mid-workday, to document and even snorkel among this incredible native species.

Partner Feature

Conservation Fisheries staff with Big Al!

Zoo Knoxville

Knoxville is surrounded by immense beauty and natural biodiversity, which naturally cultivates a community interested in animals. Conservation Fisheries is lucky to have such a great partnership and connection with Zoo Knoxville! Over the last several years we’ve hosted a day of Zoo Crew’s summer camp at our facility for one of their field trips! We’re always excited to show kids of all ages about the important conservation work that we do. Several months ago Zoo Knoxville hosted our staff for an afternoon of behind-the-scenes action of the conservation happening at their own facility! While we love our fish, it’s always really neat for us to see, up close, the conservation of other animals! They we swapped, hosting a group of herpetologists from the Zoo at our facility a few weeks ago, with our fish showing off their spawning colors. Recently, Conservation Fisheries participated in Party for the Planet hosted by the Zoo, showcasing our conservation efforts alongside other environmental based organizations.

The folks at Zoo Knoxville are actively engaged in initiatives aimed at enhancing wildlife habitats, supporting rehabilitation and release programs, and advocating for policies that promote harmonious coexistence between humans and wildlife. They realize that balancing human needs with wildlife conservation is increasingly complex due to factors like human population growth, habitat loss, climate change, and land use shifts. These challenges contribute to rising instances of human-wildlife conflict, affecting both communities and wildlife populations.

Conservation Fisheries is so grateful for our partnership with Zoo Knoxville! It’s important to collaborate with those within your own community, and we’re lucky to be doing great conservation work alongside Zoo Knoxville for years to come.

Gratitude

Up front, we’re very grateful for a restock of our Tangerine Darter hats! Thanks to Layla with Stitch Effects for always hooking us up.

When the temperatures warm up and the species in our care begin spawning, it brings us all a renewed sense of gratitude for the very cool and very important way that we get to spend our workday. And as we are grateful for the fish, we are equally as grateful to our community and partners for your constant support and kind words for our hard work.

— The CFI Team

Conservation Roundup: May 2025