snail darter

 

a small, rare fish, Percina tanasi, discovered by a zoologist who was snorkeling in the Little Tennessee River upstream from the projected Tellico Dam. Dam opponents fought successfully to include the darter on the Endangered Species List in 1975 (see endangered species), and the dam was halted. In 1978, the Supreme Court sided with environmentalists, but Congress declared the fish nonendangered and the Tellico was built. Snail darters are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Osteichthyes, order Percomorphi, family Percidae.

Snail darter
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Perciformes Family: Percidae Genus: Percina Species: P. tanasi
Binomial name
Percina tanasi Etnier, 1976

The snail darter is a small (up to 9 cm long) fish native to waters of East Tennessee. It is a variety of darter (fish) which feeds primarily on aquatic snails.

The snail darter was declared an endangered species in 1975, under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973. On July 5, 1984, the snail darter's status was lowered to threatened.^[1]

See also

• Snail darter controversy

Footnotes

1. ^ Final Rule Reclassifying Snail Darter from Endangered Species to Threatened Species

References

• Gimenez Dixon (1996). Percina tanasi. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Listed as Vulnerable (VU D2 v2.3)

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