Endangered Darters of Turkey Creek
by Charles Yeager, Preserve Manager

Turkey Creek Nature Preserve might be best known for its cool, clean, spring-fed waters where visitors flock to beat the summer heat, but all of the things that make Turkey Creek great for us also make it perfect for our aquatic residents. This is especially true for the most famous - and possibly the rarest of those residents - the darters, some of which have no other place to call home.

So, what is a darter? Darters are in the family of freshwater fish known as Percidae (perch). This family is compromised of approximately 80 unique species in Alabama (200 in the US), all of which are found east of the Rocky Mountains. In addition to darters, the Percidae family includes some very surprising game fish such as yellow perch, sauger, and walleye. Most of our darters are relatively small (2-6 inches), with a few growing up to 12 inches. Darters have underdeveloped swim bladders (organs that fish use to control buoyancy) so they tend to just sit still in place at the bottom of the body of water they inhabit and “dart” from one place to the next, relying on their camouflage to blend in with their environment, while “perched” on their pectoral fins.

Different darters have different habitat preferences, but as a whole, they tend to make use of every available natural aquatic environment, including the smallest creeks, the biggest rivers, swamps, and lakes. There are at least 10 species of darters that can be found in Turkey Creek, 3 of which are listed as endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. That makes those cool waters of Turkey Creek an incredibly important habitat for a lot of very special small fish!

Vermilion Darter, (Etheostoma chermocki) (Endangered): Found nowhere else in the world outside of Turkey Creek,
The bright reddish belly of the males and the “red window," found between the 1st and 2nd dorsal spines, distinguishes this species from the similarly colored Tuskaloosa darter. Much like our visitors, these darters love to spend most of their time in the cool shallow rifles, hiding amongst the rocks and feeding on small aquatic insects. (Photo credit: Bryce Gibson)

Watercress Darters, (Etheostoma nuchale) (Endangered): While once thought to range throughout the Village Creek Watershed, they can now only be found in 5 springs in the greater Birmingham area. Since these beautiful little fish are very picky about what they need from their habitat, their range has been narrowed down to a few remaining locations in the watershed that contain the cleanest possible water and an ample supply of aquatic vegetation. Watercress darter are well known for the blue, white, and red patterns on their dorsal rays and spines. The population in Turkey Creek was transplanted in the late 1980s when an unknown (at the time) illness was threatening a population in Roebuck. (Photo credit: Bryce Gibson)

Rush Darter, Etheostoma phytophilum (Endangered): While not nearly as colorful as the other 2 endangered darters of Turkey Creek, Rush darters stand out as one of the toughest darters in the creek. That is because these darters leave the main channel of the creek and swim up ephemeral (temporary) creeks in the early spring to spawn. These are harsh environments where few other fish can survive. While these environments support fewer predators and less competition, these fish take a risk by going someplace that could quickly dry up. These ephemeral systems are also places we tend to ignore the most, i.e. ditches on the sides of roads or even ruts in dirt roads, so finding and protecting these populations can be very difficult. Rush darters are found only in two places in the whole world: Turkey Creek, and a small creek in Etowah County. (Photo credit: Charles Yeager)