Alabama Power biologists work with agency experts to protect rare fish in Bankhead National Forest
John Moran of the USDA Forest Service and Jeff Baker, Alabama Power biologist, capture a rare rush darter in a Winston County creek. (Michael Sznajderman / Alabama News Center)
In a quiet corner of Winston County, just inside the Bankhead National Forest, there’s a tiny hollow protected by a curved limestone shelf nestled among towering trees.
Flowing from the top of the shelf is a gentle waterfall that spills into a pristine pool of crystal-clear water. From that pool, a quiet, unnamed creek flows.
On this early spring day, Alabama Power biologists Jeff Baker and Dylan Shaw are joined by two biologists from the U.S. Forest Service. They are here, at a place the biologists have dubbed the “waterfall plunge,” to check on the status of a tiny fish found only in three spots in Alabama, and nowhere else on the planet.
The rush darter isn’t much to look at. The brownish, striped fish will only grow to a maximum 3 inches, and often not that big, depending on circumstances. And it will only live on average 2-3 years.
The rare rush darter. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
Not much is known about its life cycle, although it prefers to live in shallow, cool, clear streams where it lays its eggs among leaves and aquatic plants. So far, it is only known to exist in portions of Winston, Etowah and Jefferson counties. The fish was discovered in this particular Winston County creek in 2021.
While the rush darter is rare, it doesn’t take long on this day for the team of biologists, using hand-held fish nets, to capture a half-dozen of the critters. It’s a good sign – the darters appear to be doing well here, right at spawning time.
John Moran with the USDA Forest Service holds two rush darters captured from the creek. (Michael Sznajderman / Alabama News Center)
While Baker and the Forest Service biologists take notes and measurements, Shaw is busy with a side project that has never been attempted by the team before.
With care, he anchors a waterproof video camera below the surface of the small pool, which is less than a foot deep at the center. The stop-action camera can capture up to nine hours of video, triggered by movement of anything that swims by it.
As the team wraps up the visit, Shaw turns on the camera. He hopes to capture, for the first time ever, the spawning activity of the darter – data that could be important in shedding light on the fish’s habits.
Alabama Power biologist Dylan Shaw places the “darter cam” underwater at the waterfall plunge. (Michael Sznajderman / Alabama News Center)
One caveat to this story: Here in Winston County, the biologists believe they are capturing information about the rush darter. But there is the possibility that these are not rush darters.
A basic question underlies the uncertainty. Yes, the fish in this tiny creek look and behave like the rare rush darter. But the biologists are mystified about how they got here. The creek has no physical connection to the other small creeks, many miles away, where the rush darter is known to exist.
“That’s a big question,” Baker acknowledges. He speculates that the fish may have lived in this creek since the retreat of Ice Age glaciers from the region, some 10,000-12,000 years ago.
Alabama Power supporting efforts to protect the rare rush darter from Alabama News Center on Vimeo.
In any case, the question begs further research, which is underway now. One option under discussion is taking biological material from the fish in this creek and sharing it with the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. Experts at the aquarium and elsewhere are conducting genetic studies into the species; further research could determine if the fish from Winston County are indeed rush darters, or – possibly – another species or subspecies of darter that hasn’t been identified before. The results of the ongoing research is not expected for several months.
What the ‘darter cam’ showed
A few weeks after the visit to the Winston County creek, at Alabama Power’s General Services Complex in Calera, Shaw is wrapping up his close review of the hours of video captured by the underwater “darter cam.”
The video shows the fish darting through the water, pausing at times, then rushing off – tiny fins in constant motion. Unfortunately, the video didn’t capture any of the fish’s spawning activities.
A screenshot from the underwater “darter cam.” (contributed)
Shaw plans to share the video as part of the ongoing relationship among public and private partners who are working to help protect the rush darter and other rare Alabama aquatic species.
John Moran, a forest fisheries biologist with the Forest Service in Alabama, praised the partnership with Alabama Power. He, Baker and Shaw were joined at the waterfall plunge by Koven Minor, a U.S. Department of Agriculture biologist based in Mississippi who drove over to help with the rush darter survey. In addition to capturing and measuring the fish, the team gathered other data, including water depth and temperature.
“Jeff and Dylan have been really great,” said Moran. “They come whenever we ask them to” in support of the ongoing research.
Baker said the Alabama Power team is happy to help. The more expert boots on the ground, the more information that can be gathered. The more work accomplished in identifying and locating rare species, and developing management plans for them and ways to protect the places where they thrive, the greater the chance these species will survive over the long run.
For more information about Alabama Power environmental stewardship initiatives, including work to protect and preserve habitat and species diversity, click here.
