Wow, thanks for showing us the article. Very interesting. Great to hear that
they are going to be used to try bring the population back up. I do have
trouble with big madtoms because I don't have enough room in a small tank
for them so sometime in the future it would be nice to have some nice 2in
Madtoms to get my hands on.
Thanks,
Henry Deford
Owings Mills, MD
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jay DeLong" <thirdwind_at_att.net>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Sunday, October 15, 2000 5:08 PM
Subject: NANFA-- Move on to reestablish rare pygmy madtom
> From http://www.knoxnews.com/news/16550.shtml:
>
> Move on to reestablish rare pygmy madtom
> October 15, 2000
> By Morgan Simmons, News-Sentinel staff writer
>
> A Knoxville conservation group is successfully raising a miniature catfish
> following its surprise discovery in the upper Clinch River. When
biologists
> from the University of Alabama called Conservation Fisheries Inc. last
> spring and reported that they'd collected two pygmy madtoms, the hatchery,
> which specializes in propagating rare and endangered fish species, thought
> it was a joke.
>
> "We didn't believe them at first," said J.R. Shute, co-director of
> Conservation Fisheries. "The last ones we'd seen were back in the early
> 1980s. In fact, for awhile we were afraid this species might be extinct."
>
> Considered one of the rarest species of North American fish, the pygmy
> madtom measures about 2 inches in length and is known to live in only two
> places in the world -- the Duck River in Middle Tennessee and a portion of
> the upper Clinch River in Hancock County.
>
> Several months after the pygmy madtoms arrived at the Knoxville hatchery,
> Conservation Fisheries received another surprise: The fish were hanging
out
> under the same rock, indicating they were male and female. To simulate the
> pygmy madtom's natural spawning conditions, the biologists put a water
pump
> in the 55-gallon tank to create a constant rush of water. For nesting
cover,
> they added mussel shells and pieces of floor tile. A few days later, the
> male pygmy madtom was discovered beneath one of the floor tiles, guarding
a
> cluster of BB-sized eggs. Of that initial cluster of 10 eggs, three
hatched.
> About a week later, the male madtom was discovered beneath another rock,
> guarding a second clutch of eggs. This time, 10 more pygmy madtoms
hatched,
> giving Conservation Fisheries a total of 13 new baby madtoms.
>
> Shute said the pygmy madtoms reared at the hatchery will eventually be
part
> of a federal and state reintroduction effort aimed at restoring rare,
> non-game fish to their historical range. "The pygmy madtoms look great,"
> Shute said. "The young ones are about an inch long -- about as big as the
> parents when they were bought in.
>
> "We went back through all the TVA's records trying to find how many of
these
> guys have been collected ever, and it was about 25 specimens. They are
very
> difficult to observe and very difficult to collect."
>
> --
> Jay DeLong
> Olympia, WA
>
>
>
/---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- > /"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily > / reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes > / Association" > / This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association > / nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word > / subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to > / nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to > / nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead. > / For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org
/----------------------------------------------------------------------------- /"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily / reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes / Association" / This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association / nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word / subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to / nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to / nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead. / For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org