Snail Darter - Geographic Distribution

Geographic Distribution

The original range of the snail darter was thought to be strictly in the lower portion of the Little Tennessee River with a few individuals dispersing into the headwaters of the Watts Bar Reservoir below Fort Loudon Dam. Prior to the completion of the Tellico dam in 1979, TVA biologists made several efforts to relocate the remaining individuals of the species into other river systems. In 1975 the species was successfully transplanted to the Hiwassee River, where the population has risen to about 2,500 individuals. Another transplant attempt was made to the Nolichucky River in 1975, but was later stopped by the discovery of another federally protected species, the sharphead darter (Etheostoma acuticeps). Other unsuccessful transplant locations included lower parts of the Holston River, French Broad River, and middle Elk River. With the completion of the Tellico dam, the snail darter was extirpated from the Little Tennessee River. In 1980, additional populations of snail darters was discovered in South Chickamauga Creek in Chattanooga, the lower portion of Big Sewee Creek in Meigs County, the lower Sequatchie River in Marion County, Little River in Blount County, and the lower portion of Paint Rock River in Madison County, Alabama. This discovery indicates the snail darter’s possible range as being from the lower reaches of major tributaries of the Tennessee River from the northward bend in Alabama upstream, and the snail darter species was reclassified from endangered to threatened in July 1984.