Source: Endangered and Threatened Species of the Southeastern United States (The Red Book) FWS Region 4 -- As of
2/91

                                       AMBER DARTER

                                       (Percina antesella)

FAMILY: Percidae

STATUS: Endangered, Federal Register, August 5, 1985

DESCRIPTION: This is a short, slender-bodied fish generally less than 2.5 inches in length. The fish's upper body is golden
brown with dark saddle-like markings, and its belly is yellow-to-cream color. The throats of breeding males are blue in color.
The amber darter feeds primarily on snails and insects.

REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT: Little information is available on life history. Limited data indicate that
spawning may occur from late fall to early spring. Maximum life span may be around 3 years.

RANGE AND POPULATION LEVEL: No quantitative estimates of the amber darter's population are available. However,
from the relative abundance standpoint, in a 1983 survey 1O to 2O minutes of sampling within good habitat areas would yield 3
to 1O amber darters. The fish is presently known from approximately 33.5 miles of the Conasauga River beginning at the U.S.
Route 411 bridge in Polk County, Tennessee, and extending downstream to the Tibbs Bridge Crossing on County Road 109
(Tibbs Bridge Road) in Murray County, Georgia. One amber darter was taken in 1980 from a site on the Etowah River in
Cherokee County, Georgia, but subsequent surveys in the area made in 1982 and 1983 failed to yield additional specimens.
Historically, a population of the amber darter was found in Shoal Creek, a tributary of the Etowah in Cherokee County.
However, the lower portion of Shoal Creek was inundated by the construction of Allatoona Reservoir in 195O, and several
surveys in the unflooded portion, including one survey in 1983, indicate that the species is no longer present.

HABITAT: The species was observed by Freeman (1983) to inhabit gentle riffle areas over sand and gravel substrate. He
also noted that as the summer season progressed and aquatic vegetation developed in the riffles, the amber darter used this
vegetated habitat for feeding and for cover.

CRITICAL HABITAT: Conasauga River from U.S. Route 411 bridge in Polk County, Tennessee, downstream
approximately 33.5 miles through Bradley County, and Murray and Whitfield Counties, Georgia, to the Tibbs Bridge Road
bridge (Murray County Road 1O9 and Whitfield County Road 1OO).

REASONS FOR CURRENT STATUS: The continued existence of this fish could be threatened if a water supply project
under consideration for the Conasauga River is implemented without adequately considering the darter's requirements. A
reservoir would, as proposed, be expected to sufficiently alter downstream water and habitat quality to eliminate or at least
reduce darter numbers from its present downstream habitat.

Amber Darter 2/91

Due to the limited distribution of the amber darter, any factor that degrades habitat and water quality, such as land use changes,
chemical spills, increased logging activity, road and bridge construction, stream channel modifications, and increases in
agricultural and urban runoff could threaten the fish's survival.

Constituent elements include high quality water, riffle areas (free of silt) composed of sand, gravel, and cobble which becomes
vegetated (primarily with Podostemum) during the summer.

MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION: The primary factor in conserving the amber darter will be to protect its present
habitat in the Conasauga River and assure that neither habitat nor water quality is degraded through construction or other
activities. Studies on life history and habitat requirements are underway and should be continued until management needs are
fully known. The Etowah River should be further surveyed and evaluated relative to the status of any remaining population and
feasibility of either bolstering the remaining population or reestablishing it if extirpated.

REFERENCES:

Freeman, D.J. 1983. Final Report on the Status of Etheostoma trisella, the Trispot Darter, and Percina antesella, the Amber
Darter, in the upper Coosa River System in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. U.S. fish and Wildlife Service Contract No.
14-16-0004-048. 112 pp.

**U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1986. Conasauga Logperch and Amber Darter Recovery Plan. U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Atlanta, Georgia. 34 pp.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1985. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Determination of Endangered Status
and Critical Habitat for the Amber Darter and Conasauga Logperch. Federal Register 5O(150):31597-316O4.

Williams, J.D. and D.A. Etnier. 1977. Percina (Imostoma) antesella, A New Percid Fish from the Coosa River System in
Tennessee and Georgia. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 9O:6-18.