Etheostoma lemniscatum, Tuxedo Darter
This darter was once known as the Duskytail Darter. Blanton and Jenkins (2008) recognized that the Duskytail darter was actually a complex of four species. The Tuxedo darter is known only from the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River in Tennessee and Kentucky. Until relatively recently, this darter was known from essentially a single shoal complex in Tennessee. Surveys by CFI and others have now extended that range almost down to the impounded reach of the river below Bear Creek in Kentucky.
Our role with the Tuxedo darter has been primarily surveying to help assess the status of their population. We have not been propagating this species. At this time, there are no plans to do so.
Blanton, R.E. and R.E. Jenkins 2008 Three new darter species of the Etheostoma percnurum species complex (Percidae, subgenus Catonotus) from the Tennessee and Cumberland river drainages Zootaxa 1963:1-24.