Stargazing darter

Stargazing darter
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Percidae
Genus:	Percina
Species:	P. uranidea
Binomial name
Percina uranidea (Jordan & Gilbert, 1887)
Synonyms [2]
Etheostoma uranideaJordan & Gilbert, 1887 ? Percina tanasi Etnier, 1976

The stargazing darter (Percina uranidea) is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish, a darter from the subfamily Etheostomatinae, part of the family Percidae, which also contains the perches, ruffes and pikeperches. It is endemic to the United States.

In 2025, the snail darter (Percina tanasi), known for its political significance in the snail darter controversy, was determined to be an allopatric eastern population of Percina uranidea. This would expand the distribution of the stargazing darter to the eastern Tennessee River drainage. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

Geographic distribution

Found in the St. Francis, White and Ouachita River drainages in Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana; formerly in lower the Wabash River in Indiana and Illinois, where now extirpated. ^[2] If the snail darter also belongs to this species, as determined by phylogenetic studies, then the species also inhabits the eastern Tennessee River drainage in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. This eastern population (as the snail darter) was considered endangered and even nearly extirpated for a period of time, but has since seen significant recovery due to Endangered Species Act protections. ^{[3] [5]}

References

1. NatureServe (2014). "Percina uranidea". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2014: e.T16596A19034712. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T16596A19034712.en . Retrieved 14 November 2021.
2. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Percina uranidea". FishBase . December 2019 version.
3. Ghezelayagh, Ava; Simmons, Jeffrey W.; Wood, Julia E.; Yamashita, Tsunemi; Thomas, Matthew R.; Blanton, Rebecca E.; Orr, Oliver D.; MacGuigan, Daniel J.; Kim, Daemin; Benavides, Edgar; Keck, Benjamin P.; Harrington, Richard C.; Near, Thomas J. (2025-01-03). "Comparative species delimitation of a biological conservation icon". Current Biology. 35 (2): 398–406.e4. Bibcode:2025CBio...35..398G. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.11.053 . ISSN   0960-9822. PMID   39755118.
4. Jason Nark (3 January 2025). "This Tiny Fish's Mistaken Identity Halted a Dam's Construction". New York Times . Retrieved 4 January 2025. "There is, technically, no snail darter," said Thomas Near, curator of ichthyology at the Yale Peabody Museum [...] the snail darter, Percina tanasi, is neither a distinct species nor a subspecies. Rather, it is an eastern population of Percina uranidea [...] early researchers "squinted their eyes a bit" when describing the fish, because it represented a way to fight the Tennessee Valley Authority's plan to build the Tellico Dam
5. "Fish at center of key conservation fight not a distinct species after all". Yale News. Yale University. 3 January 2025. Retrieved 4 January 2025. A new study by Yale researchers shows that the tiny fish, discovered in a lower stretch of the Little Tennessee River in 1973, is not a distinct species at all, meaning it was never endangered.