Right now, a beautiful minnow found in Chattanooga’s backyard — and literally nowhere else on Earth — is a fin’s-width away from disappearing. From invasive predators and a plague of parasites to streams withered away by extreme drought, the critically endangered Laurel Dace needs our help.
MEET THE LAUREL DACE
First listed as endangered in 2011 and now found in just two streams on Walden Ridge, scientists consider the Laurel Dace to be one of North America’s 10 most-endangered fish species. With a gold body, red lips, highlighter-yellow fins and crimson belly, the Laurel Dace is a stunning representation of the unparalleled diversity of aquatic life in the Southeast. Thanks to timely intervention by humans earlier this year, it’s already survived one extinction-level event in 2024.
OUR WORK SO FAR
In the midst of a dangerously prolonged drought, a team from the Aquarium traveled north of Chattanooga in July to rescue what Laurel Dace they could from rapidly disappearing streams near Spring City, Tennessee. That emergency relocation and several others over the next two months saw about 300 fish — the majority of all Laurel Dace left on earth — safely moved into human care, with most held at the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute.
Spared from almost certain extinction, these two- to three-inch individuals now exist in a state of limbo. They’re healthy and thriving in the care of Aquarium biologists and at a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service facility in Kentucky, but their prospects in the wild remain dire thanks to the ongoing drought, invasive predators and other threats to their survival.
While the Laurel Dace remain in human care, scientists are taking the first steps on the species’ long road to recovery. Biologists are studying the parasite present in the streams that are the species’ last bastions in the wild. Scientists also are conducting genetic research to prepare for the creation of an “ark population” of Laurel Dace hatched and raised in human care as a safeguard against extinction in the wild.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
On Giving Tuesday (Dec. 3), the Aquarium is turning to the public for help safeguarding this embattled minnow with the launch of the Race for the Laurel Dace. Contributing to this campaign, in whatever amount, will empower individuals to meaningfully support the Aquarium’s effort to prevent the Laurel Dace’s extinction.
Donations to the Race for the Laurel Dace will fund this research and pay for additional equipment and Aquarium staff time needed to care for the fish.
Gifts of $10 or more receive a Laurel Dace sticker. Gifts of $25 or more receive a Laurel Dace sticker and magnet.
Laurel Dace sticker and magnet design
Learn more about our work to protect the Laurel Dace
