Recently, a team of scientists from the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute donned wetsuits and snorkels to collect Tangerine Darters from the Tellico River near Tellico Plains, Tennessee.

After spending a winter at the Conservation Institute’s freshwater science center, these enormous fish (for a darter, at least) will be spawned next spring. Their offspring will be raised under our experts’ care before being shipped to a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency facility near Nashville. There they will play a crucial role in the propagation of an endangered species of freshwater mussel.