Maritime Aquarium helps breed endangered fish from Tennessee
NORWALK — When an aquarium 850 miles away asked for help to bring a native fish species back from endangerment, the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk stepped in.
The Barrens topminnow, a colorful 4-inch-long fish, is found only in the streams and springhead pools of the Barrens Plateau in the middle of Tennessee. In 2018, the Tennessee Aquarium asked the nation’s aquariums to help breeding the fish.
Along with Maritime, the Tennessee Aquarium partnered with the National Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque, Iowa, and the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago for the breeding project. In the two years since the partnership was formed, more than 100 topminnows from Maritime Aquarium have been released in Tennessee, said Bert Sadler, an aquarist at Maritime.
This past November, Maritime shipped about two dozen topminnows to Tennessee for release.
“Tennessee Aquarium
gave a presentation at a regional aquatics workshop in 2018 I was attending, and he was giving info about their work with the project,” Sadler said on Maritime joining the project. “He was asking others for help and my boss nudged me and was like, ‘If you know anybody at the aquarium, we can help.’ And I said I could help.”
The topminnows were classified as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in October 2019, however, the Tennessee Aquarium has worked for the preservation of the species for nearly 20 years, Sadler said.
“Every species is very important and even a small fish like this is very important, whether it be as food
for other animals or the living fauna for another habitat, and should be cared for and protected,” Sadler said.
The Tennessee Aquarium reached out to other zoos and aquariums once they gained permission to transport the topminnows out of the state, as the Barrens topminnow is a state-listed fish, said Matt
Hamilton, curator of fishes at the Tennessee Aquarium.
“It’s a numbers game, trying to get the more secure places, I can get them better off,” Hamilton said. “If tragedy continues happening, they may only be found in captivity, but they won’t be extinct.”
The Barrens topminnow’s numbers have dwindled in recent years due primarily to the arrival of an invasive species in its habitat: The mosquitofish, Hamilton said.
Little to no extra funds or equipment were needed for Maritime to care for the topminnows, as they require a basic aquarium
setup and are easy to care for, Sadler said.
“To take care of the adults we have them in the normal fish tank with vegetation for them to hide in, feed them once a day,” Sadler said. “But we adjust the light cycle to what they’d see in Tennessee.”
From eggs to mature adults, the time it takes for topminnows to develop is about four to five months, but the next shipment south won’t be until the spring, Sadler said.
The project, which started as a small endeavor, has increased in inventory and space due to its success but is not on display at the Maritime Aquarium.