Buck Darter | Etheostoma nebra

Status: IUCN: Not Listed; USFWS: Not Listed

Threats: Agricultural practices, climate change, deforestation, endemism, habitat destruction, mining, and sedimentation.

CFI Status: Propagated at CFI from 2016-Present for propagation protocols, augmentation, monitoring, and holding an assurance colony if necessary. (What do these terms mean?)

Native Range: Buck Creek watershed, KY

Spawning Habitat Preferences: Spring spawners in small pools in spring-fed streams; they lay clutches of eggs under large, flat, slab rocks.

Fun Fact: Named for the small creek system from which they originate, the Buck Darter is a new and very rare species. Thought to have once been found throughout Buck Creek, they had since been restricted to just one tributary. As a result of Conservation Fisheries work with this animal, they have been successfully restored to two additional tributaries in the system.

In Partnership With: Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources; Kentucky Waterways Alliance; USFWS Frankfort