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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 167 / Wednesday, September 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS

Public Hearing Section 4b5 of the Act provides for a public hearing on this proposal, if requested. Requests must be received by the date specified in DATES. Such requests must be sent to the address shown in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT. We will schedule a public hearing on this proposal, if requested, and announce the date, time, and place of the hearing, as well as how to obtain reasonable accommodations, in the Federal Register and local newspapers at least 15 days before the hearing. For the immediate future, we will provide these public hearings using webinars that will be announced on the Services website, in addition to the Federal Register. The use of these virtual public hearings is consistent with our regulations at 50 CFR 424.16c3.
Previous Federal Actions On October 9, 1975, we published a final rule in the Federal Register 40 FR
47505 listing the snail darter as an endangered species due to the threat of the impoundment of the only known location of the species by the completion of Tellico Dam. On April 1, 1976, the Service designated 16.5 miles 26.4 km of the lower Little Tennessee River as critical habitat for the snail darter 41 FR 13926. In 1977, the critical habitat for the snail darter was amended to include a map 42 FR
47840. The Snail Darter Recovery Team prepared the initial recovery plan for the snail darter on April 4, 1979 Hurst et al. 1979, entire. The plan was revised and finalized on May 5, 1983 Service 1983, entire. Due to successful translocations into the Hiawassee and Holston Rivers and the discovery of additional populations, we reclassified the snail darter from endangered to threatened and rescinded critical habitat on July 5, 1984 49 FR 27510. In 2013, we completed a 5-year review for the snail darter. No change in the species listing classification was recommended as a result of that 5-year review. We initiated a second 5-year review for the species on April 11, 2019 84 FR 14669, and on July 16, 2019, we were petitioned to delist the snail darter. We were already reviewing the status of the species as part of the 5-year review and, upon receiving the petition, determined that there was substantial scientific and commercial information indicating the delisting the snail darter may be warranted. Based on our review of available data we gathered during preparation of that status review and presented herein, we have determined that the recovery criteria for delisting the species have been met and that the
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snail darter does not meet the Acts definition of an endangered species or a threatened species. Therefore, we are proposing to delist the snail darter. This proposed rule will also serve as our 5year review, 90-day finding, and 12month finding on the petition.
For additional details on previous Federal actions, including recovery actions, see discussion under Recovery, below.
Background Below, we present a thorough review of the taxonomy, life history, ecology, and overall status of this fish, referencing data from the 2013 5-year review Service 2013, entire where appropriate.
Taxonomy The snail darter is a small fish in the perch family, Percidae, and darter subfamily, Etheostomatinae. The species was first discovered in 1973 Starnes 1977, p. 1. At that time, and when listed in 1975, the snail darter was recognized as a new, undescribed species in the genus Percina and subgenus Imostoma. The species was described in 1976 as Percina tanasi, named after the historic Cherokee town of Tanasi, near where the snail darter was first discovered Etnier 1976, p.
485. The snail darter has been recognized as the sister species closest relative to the stargazing darter P.
uranidea Etnier 1976, p. 480; Near and McEachran 2002, p. 8.
Population Genetics No studies have been completed to determine the level of gene flow between populations or the amount of potential inbreeding within populations. Because snail darters are often found in the lower portions of tributaries, it is likely that tributary populations are part of larger mainstem metapopulations Service 2013, p. 13. It is not clear to what level the mainstem populations are isolated by the large Tennessee Valley Authority TVA dams and reservoirs.
Species Description The following description is modified from Etnier 1976, pp. 480485 and Etnier and Starnes 1993, pp. 587590.
The snail darter is a small benthic bottom-dwelling fish that grows to 3.55 inches in 90 millimeters mm.
The base color is brown or brownish grey with some green. The back has four clear black or dark brown saddle markings. These markings extend down the sides toward the series of blotches along the lateral line. A dark suborbital bar or teardrop marking is present
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below the eye. Fin rays are usually speckled, but pelvic and anal fins are sometimes clear. Males gain a bluegreen sheen on the sides and belly during the breeding season when golden flecks become more pronounced on the cheeks and pectoral fins. Females also develop some gold coloring but are less bright than the males. Breeding tubercles small bony protrusions form on the rays of the elongated anal fin of males as well as the lower surfaces of rays of the pelvic fins, caudal tail fin, and branchiostegal soft gill cover under head rays.
The snail darter may occur with two other Imostoma darters, the river darter Percina shumardi and the saddleback darter P. vigil. The snail darter differs from the river darter by having four saddle markings along its back, while the latter lacks saddles altogether. Snail darters and river darters are often found together, but river darters tend to be associated with slightly larger substrate than snail darters Matthews 2020, pers.
comm.. While these species may share similar habitat, there is no evidence that they compete for resources.
Habitat The snail darter occurs in flowing sections of medium to large rivers. In these streams, snail darters are predominantly found over clean gravel without significant silt or plant coverage Ashton and Layzer 2010, p. 615.
Initially thought to require shallow, unimpounded portions of river to survive Starnes 1977, pp. 2123, snail darters were later found in the impounded but flowing upper sections of mainstem Tennessee River reservoirs Hickman and Fitz 1978, p. 80. Snail darters were found in shoals at a depth of 1 to 3 feet ft 0.3 to 1 meters m Starnes 1977, pp. 2133; Ashton and Layzer 2010, entire. Snail darters have also been found on gravel and cobble patches in up to 25 ft 7.6 m of water with regular captures at 10 to 15 ft 3 to 5 m deep Ripley 1976, entire; Hickman and Fitz 1978, pp. 8083; Matthews 2017, pers. comm.; Matthews 2019, pers. comm.. In addition to large river habitats, snail darters also occupy the lower reaches of larger creeks, and during the breeding season, large numbers of darters congregate on the gravel shoals in these creeks to spawn Starnes 1977, p. 64. Detailed descriptions of snail darter habitat can be found in Ashton and Layzer 2010, entire and Starnes 1977, pp. 2133.
Life History The life history data presented here are modified from Etnier and Starnes 1993, p. 588, with additions from
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