Georgia DNR updates from the world of freshwater aquatic wildlife include the following:
Sicklefin Monitoring Stats
This year’s monitoring focused on sicklefin redhorse tagged and released 29 of the state-endangered suckers found in Georgia only in Brasstown Creek near the Tennessee line.
Ten of the sicklefin had been caught before (one had a PIT tag from 2015). Eggs collected from spawning females will help raise fish for stocking across the species’ historical range.
DID YOU KNOW …
- Sicklefin redhorse was formally described last year as Moxostoma ugidatli, a name honoring the Cherokee who valued this fish long before it was recognized by scientists.
- Sicklefin project partners include the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Georgia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Tennessee Valley Authority and Young Harris College.
Hellbender Reports
Hellbender released back into its stream home (James Miles/GaDNR)
Eastern hellbender sightings have been cropping up in northeast Georgia lately. DNR fisheries biologist James Miles and technician Leon Brotherton came across the adult hellbender above while sampling for fish in a mountain stream.
The public is asked to report encounters with hellbenders or Georgia’s other four giant salamanders at GaGiantSalamander@dnr.ga.gov. The information will help DNR’s Wildlife Conservation Section conserve these whopper amphibians.