Tennessee Aquarium Helps Brings Fish Species Back from Brink of Extinction
Submitted by Amy Katcher on April 6, 2010 - 3:13pm.
A species of fish almost wiped off the face of the Earth is back in Tennessee waterways... Thanks to the Tennessee Aquarium.
A little fish called the Barrens Topminnow is only found in Tennessee.
It almost went extinct in the early 1990s.
So the Tennessee Aquarium stepped in.
Aquarists have been raising them and releasing them into area rivers since 1998.
Their first release was 57 fish.
Now, they release about 1,500 every year.
Aquarists spent Tuesday getting about 500 of the fish ready to be released into streams in Cumberland County tomorrow afternoon.
Senior Aquarist Matt Hamilton says the Barrens Topminnows benefits the ecosystem, and even fishermen. He said, "If you don't have the topminnows and small minnows there then you don't have the game fish there and there's nothing for them to catch. So they are kind of an indicator species in that sense."
To date, the aquarium has released nearly 32,000 Barrens Topminnows.
Volkswagen announced Tuesday the auto maker is the official sponsor of the Aquarium’s conservation efforts.
