Status: IUCN: Vulnerable; USFWS: Threatened (1997)

Threats: Impoundments, habitat fragmentation, and sedimentation (What do these terms mean?)

CFI Status: Reared at CFI from 1986 - Present to develop propagation protocols, reintroduction, augmentation, and monitoring. (What do these terms mean?)

Native Range: Upper Tennessee River drainage, VA, TN, GA

Spawning Habitat Preferences: Late spring to summer spawners in streams with low flow; they lay clutches of eggs under medium to large-sized flat rocks

Fun Fact: The Yellowfin Madtom was thought to be extinct prior to rediscovery by the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1968. Nearly a decade later they were listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and in 1986 the idea of Conservation Fisheries, Inc. would first come into existence in an effort to protect this rare catfish. Now, after over 35 years of working with this species, we believe we are nearing the day that they can be removed from the Endangered Species Act entirely.

Relevant Literature: Dinkins and Shute (1997)

In Partnership With: Brookfield Smoky Mountain Hydropower; Cherokee National Forest Service; Great Smoky Mountain National Parks Service; Southern Region Forest Service; Tennessee Technological University; Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency; USFWS (Abingdon, VA, Asheville, NC, Cookeville, TN); Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources; World Wildlife Fund