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West Virginia Candy Darter Joins Protected List

A teeny, colorful fish found only in a few West Virginia rivers has been added to the nation’s list of endangered species, meaning extra care must be taken to preserve its limited habitat.

The candy darter’s numbers have dropped 75% in recent decades due to cross-breeding with an introduced fish, pollution and sedimentation, according to federal biologists. It now lives in just the Gauley, Greenbrier and lower New rivers. The darter serves as food for larger fish and also as hosts for freshwater mussel reproduction. Several conservation groups petitioned the federal government in 2010 to list the darter, which now joins 14 other animals in the state protected as federally endangered species. 

Read More: biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2018/candy-darter-11-20-2018.php

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The story above appears in our March/April 2019 issue.

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