{"id":668253,"date":"2026-05-27T15:09:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/668253\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T15:09:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:09:20","slug":"only-found-in-east-tennessee-the-tiny-laurel-dace-is-a-big-warning-sign-for-water-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/668253\/","title":{"rendered":"Only found in East Tennessee, the tiny Laurel Dace is a big warning sign for water health"},"content":{"rendered":"

SPRING CITY, Tenn. \u2014 According to the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, there are more than 320 species of fish that live in Tennessee.<\/p>\n

But many people may not know about a small endangered fish species that is only found in East Tennessee waterways: the Laurel Dace. <\/p>\n

The tiny, endangered fish is at the center of a big community celebration in Spring City. <\/p>\n

\"Image:<\/p>\n

The Laurel Dace event brought together runners, families and conservation groups to raise awareness about the species.<\/p>\n

Emily Granstaff, a Fish and Wildlife Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says…<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a celebration because it\u2019s something that\u2019s been here for a long time, something unique for this area and that we want to keep it here and we want to celebrate that uniqueness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organizers say the festival was designed to make conservation feel personal and fun.<\/p>\n

\"Image:\u201cI think all of these different events help everyone get connected with nature and that creates us to be healthier people,” Granstaff says.<\/p>\n

The Laurel Dace may be small, but scientists say it plays a big role in understanding the health of local waterways.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Chance, Director of Conservation at the Tennessee Aquarium, says…<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople wonder why we should be concerned about a tiny little fish, but really what impacts the fish impacts us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because the fish is sensitive to pollution and sediment in the water, experts say it serves as an early warning sign for larger environmental problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the Laurel Dace, it really likes clean water that doesn\u2019t have a lot of sediment in the streams,” Granstaff says.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one reason conservation groups are working with local landowners and communities to restore habitat and improve water quality.<\/p>\n

\"Image:\u201cIf we can keep the soil out on the field and out in the forest it keeps it out of the stream and it helps all of us,” Chance says.<\/p>\n

Federal recovery efforts also focus on restoring populations in areas where the species once lived naturally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the fish to be able to sustain itself in perpetuity without human intervention,” Granstaff says.<\/p>\n

For the people behind this event, the growing turnout is a reason to stay hopeful.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing this whole community come together and want to learn more, want to get involved and want to help in whatever way they can to save the Laurel Dace it\u2019s just really inspiring. We\u2019re so glad to be here,” Chance says.Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n

JOIN THE CONVERSATION (1)<\/p>\n

What started as a race and community festival is also becoming a reminder that protecting one small fish can help protect an entire ecosystem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPRING CITY, Tenn. \u2014 According to the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, there are more than 320 species of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-668253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}