The conasauga logperch (Percina jenkinsi) is a species of fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 in the Percidae

Percidae

The Percidae are a family of perciform fish found in fresh and brackish waters of the Northern Hemisphere. The family contains about 200 species in ten genera...

 family. It is endemic to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Abstract

The following information is a monitoring and management plan for the endangered Conasauga logperch, Percina jenkinsi. The Conasauga logperch is a member of the Percidae family. It is one of 184 species of darters in North America. The greatest diversity is in the southeastern United States; Tennessee alone has 90 darter species, mostly in the genera Percina and Etheostoma. It has been listed as endangered throughout its range with critical habitat since August 5, 1985. This is a slender fish with a maximum length of 4.6 inches. Percina jenkinsi is restricted to 11 miles of the Conasauga River between Tennessee and Georgia. Thompson (1985) hypothesized jenkinsi to be derived from Percina caprodes which entered the Conasauga system from the adjacent Hiwassee system of the Tennessee drainage. This fish is known to flip over substrate and prey on disturbed invertebrates. There is little information on the life history of this fish, but the information that is available indicates that sexual maturity is reached after one year and spawning occurs in spring. There are multiple reasons for the endangerment of this and many fish in freshwater ecosystems. This percid darter needs fresh flowing water with a clean gravel and mixed rubble substrate. Due to the species' limited distribution, any factor that degrades habitat or water quality in the short river reaches it inhabits, could threaten the fish's survival. Poor watershed management, agricultural run off, and urbanifzation along the Conasauga River has resulted in widespread siltation of the substrate. A management plan for this species was written in 1986 and stressed the necessity of involvement from state, Federal, and private organizations. It also included recommendations for allocations of money to establish a Conasauga River National Wildlife Refuge. The following management plan will include the 1986 action plan as well as updated recommendations.

Geographic Distribution

There are 41 described species in the genus Percina the secondmost species rich of 10 genera currently recognized in the family Percidae. Of the 41 named species, nine of which are endemic to the Mobile Basin of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee, representing the highest level of endemism in the genus Percina within any drainage of North America. The Conasauga logperch is currently known only from a short 11 mile reach of the Conasauga River, a Coosa River tributary in northern Georgia and southcentral Tennessee. Specifically, it exists in the Conasauga River from the confluence of Half-way Branch with the Conasauga River in Polk County, Tennessee, downstream approximately 11 miles through Bradley County, Tennessee, to the Georgia State Highway 2 bridge in Murray County, Georgia. Due to this species' limited distribution, any factor that degrades habitat or water quality in this short reach could threaten the fishes' survival. Habitat quality in the upper Conasauga is protected in part because the river's headwaters drain national forests in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Streamside development increases near the Tennessee-Georgia boundary, where the river leaves a national forest and residences and roads encroach on the stream bank. Agricultural fields commonly extend to the river edge and water clarity noticeably decreases downstream. The river receives diverse pollutants from industrial and urban sources in Dalton, Georgia, routinely resulting in fishkills.

Ecology

The Conasauga logperch occurs in flowing pool areas and riffle areas over clean substrate of rubble, sand, and gravel. The Conasauga logperch requires unpolluted, clean water streams. Critical habitat designated for this species within the Conasauga River (Polk and Bradley Counties, Tennessee, and Murray and Whitfield Counties, Georgia) contains high quality water, pool areas and deeper chutes with gravel and small rubble for spawning. The genus Percina contains large and distinctive members of the genus. They are characterized by the presence of a conical, "pig-like" snout and "tiger-stripe" pattern of numerous dark, vertical bars on a yellowish background. The curious snout development is an apparent adaptation to stone-flipping behavior, in which the snout is used to flip over rocks during feeding. This is a large darter, sometimes exceeding six inches in length. This species feeds on aquatic invertebrates found under stones. There is little known about the ecology of the Conasauga logperch. The following information is taken from studys of similar logperch species. Logperch feed on a variety of invertebrates. The procedure of flipping substrate makes available to them a wide range of organisms including larvae of midges, mayflies, caddisflies, riffle beetles, stoneflies, limpets, and fish eggs. Young feed on microcrustaces. It is most likely that introduced rainbow trout and brown trout are the main predators for this species. From the 1986 management plan, the authors mention the dangerous impacts of constructing a proposed water reservoir on the Conasauga river. "A reservoir on the Conasauga River could also affect fish upstream of the proposed reservoir. Some game fish and non-game species common to reservoirs, such as carp, generally respond to reservoir construction by dramatically increasing their population levels. These reservoir fish at times could migrate upstream into the habitat of the Conasauga logperch. Through competition, predation, and changes in habitat caused by carp stirring up the substrate during feeding could reduce the chances of the Conasauga logperchs' survival.

Life History

No studies regarding life history have been conducted. Available information indicates that spawning occurs in late spring, in fast riffles over gravel substrate. The fish probably reaches sexual maturity after one year and has a maximum life span of at least four years. A close relative of Percina jenkinsi is Percina caprodes. Logperch are in a clade of darters that exhibit little ecological variation among species. Unlike many other darter species, logperches show little sexual dimorphism in coloration. Logperch species are morphologically diagnosable units hypothesized to be reproductively isolated from other logperch species. Additionally, a lack of naturally occurring hybrids among logperch species reinforces this theory. Males are nonterritorial and several may follow a single female until breeding takes place. The parents bury the fertilized eggs in the substrate. Exposed eggs are usually eaten by other males. Eggs are adhesive and demersal (heavier than water) thus allowing them to remain in the substrate. Hatching requires 200 hours. Clutch size is not documented and varies grately in the genus Percina. Percina caprodes fecundity of females is high, ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 ova per year. Percina evides females have been observed with a fecundity of only about 130 to 400 ova per year. Again, because of the short range of the Conasauga logperch, any disturbance of its native habitat could cause this species to become extinct. Siltration of the substrate from runoff and pollution would impact the breeding habitat for many Percina species, including the Conasauga logperch.

Current Management

Freshwater fish are under siege all over the planet, and the species-rich Southeast is no exception. Percina jenkinsi has been federally listed as endangered throughout its range with critical habitat on August 5, 1986. A Recovery plan was completed on June 20, 1986. At their Knoxville nonprofit, Conservation Fisheries, INC. (CFI) J.R. Shutes and Pat Rakes are trying to keep this rare species alive. The Conasauga river might hold a limited 200 individuals of this species and CFI holds three, the only ones in captivity. The goal is to have seed stock ready to restore the fish to the river, if and when society restores that river to its clean, free-flowing state. The Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, and other private facilities, and state and federal wildlife agencies have efforts under way as well. The Southeastern Fishes Council put together a list they call the desperate dozen, "the twelve fish most likely to become extinct soon," and this list includes Percina jenkinsi. Current management includes preserving the Conasauga river populations and presently used habitat, utilize existing legislation of the Federal Endangered Species Act for water quality regulations, stream alteration regulations, etc., conduct life history research on the species to include reproduction, food habits, age and growth, and mortatlity facotrs, determine the number of individuals required to maintatin a viable population, and searching for additional populations and habitats suitable for reintroduction efforts. Further management recommendations can be found in the recovery plan of 1986. The Forest Service is playing a lead role in conservation efforts in the upper watershed. The Conasauga River Alliance—a partnership of local citizens, businesses, conservation groups, and government agencies—is coordinating conservation activities in the middle section of the watershed. Both are active and assist each other throughout these parts of the watershed. Other partnerships include U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NC State University, Regional Solid Waste Management Authoriy, local industries and utility companies, Georgia DNR, private and public landowners, volunteers, and local city and county governments. Overutilization, disease, and predation are not believed to be major threats at this time.

Management Recommendations

The continued existence of this species is jeopardized if water development projects now being considered for the Conasauga River basin are implemented without adequately considering the requirements of the species inhabiting it. The primary factor in conserving the Conasauga logperch is to protect its present habitat in the Conasauga River and ensure that neither habitat nor water quality is degraded through construction or other activities. Studies on life history and habitat requriements should be conducted to provide complete information on namagement needs. Better knowledge of population sizes, patterns of population structure and connectivity, and genetic relationships among populations is needed to effectively manage and protect the species. Field observations should be made by one or two snorkelers who slowly move upstream through a study site. Markers should be placed at each observed Conasauga logperch. Observations should be made in focal periods of 10 to 60 minutes to determine whether the species use habitats where they would be less visible to searching snorkelers (such as under rocks or vegetation or in extremely shallow water) and to evalutate the adequacy of point measurements for quantifying habitat use by an individual. Records should be kept on the following habitat variables at locations of all observed Conasauga logperch: depth, water velocity adjacent to the substrate, the dominant substrate type, and percent cover by river weeds. In addition, observations should be made on feeding and spawning habits. Observations should be made during daylight and dark. Other management recommendations include to restore riparian buffers, fence cattle, and install agricultural BMPs in priority reaches of the Conasauga river, identify agricultural practices that may impact stream systems, work with local officials to develop stormwater runoff management, sediment and erosion control, road and utility crossings of streams, and other stressors of urbanization. In addition it is recommended to continue to research the life history and ecology of this species to better understand what we can do to establish a healthy population in its current range, and expand its range through reintroduction practices. Finally, it will benefit Percina jenkinsi as well as other animal species to establish a Conasauga River National Wildlife Refuge.