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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 109 / Wednesday, June 9, 2021 / Rules and Regulations symbiotic species, or other features. A
feature may be a single habitat characteristic or a more complex combination of habitat characteristics.
Features may include habitat characteristics that support ephemeral or dynamic habitat conditions. Features may also be expressed in terms relating to principles of conservation biology, such as patch size, distribution distances, and connectivity. For example, physical features essential to the conservation of the species might include gravel of a particular size required for spawning, alkali soil for seed germination, protective cover for migration, or susceptibility to flooding or fire that maintains necessary earlysuccessional habitat characteristics.
Biological features might include prey species, forage grasses, specific kinds or ages of trees for roosting or nesting, symbiotic fungi, or a particular level of nonnative species consistent with conservation needs of the listed species.
The features may also be combinations of habitat characteristics and may encompass the relationship between characteristics or the necessary amount of a characteristic essential to support the life history of the species.
In considering whether features are essential to the conservation of the species, the Service may consider an appropriate quality, quantity, and spatial and temporal arrangement of
habitat characteristics in the context of the life-history needs, condition, and status of the species. These characteristics include, but are not limited to, space for individual and population growth and for normal behavior; food, water, air, light, minerals, or other nutritional or physiological requirements; cover or shelter; sites for breeding, reproduction, or rearing or development of offspring;
and habitats that are protected from disturbance.
Summary of Essential Physical or Biological Features In accordance with section 35Ai of the Act and regulations at 50 CFR
424.12b, in determining which areas within the geographical area occupied by the species at the time of listing to designate as critical habitat, we consider the physical or biological features that are essential to the conservation of the species and which may require special management considerations or protection. These include, but are not limited to:
1 Space for individual and population growth and for normal behavior;
2 Food, water, air, light, minerals, or other nutritional or physiological requirements;
3 Cover or shelter;

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4 Sites for breeding, reproduction, or rearing or development of offspring;
and 5 Habitats that are protected from disturbance or are representative of the historical, geographical, and ecological distributions of a species.
The features may also be combinations of habitat characteristics and may encompass the relationship between characteristics or the necessary amount of a characteristic needed to support the life history of the species. In considering whether features are essential to the conservation of the species, the Service may consider an appropriate quality, quantity, and spatial and temporal arrangement of habitat characteristics in the context of the life-history needs, condition, and status of the species.
We derive the specific physical or biological features essential to the conservation of Carolina madtom from studies of this species habitat, ecology, and life history as described above. The primary habitat elements that influence resiliency of both species include water quality, water quantity, substrate, and habitat connectivity. Additional information can be found in the SSA
report Service 2021a available on http www.regulations.gov under Docket No. FWSR4ES20180092.
The Carolina madtoms individual needs are summarized below in Table 3.

TABLE 3LIFE HISTORY AND RESOURCE NEEDS OF THE CAROLINA MADTOM
Resources and/or circumstances needed for individuals to complete each life stage
Life stage Egg/EmbryoMayJuly

Hatchlinglate summer
Juveniles23 years; >2.5
inches long.
Adults3+ years>4 inches long.

Clear, flowing water
Sexually mature males and females.
Appropriate spawning temperatures.
Nest sites rocks, bottles, shells, cobble.
Adequate flow for oxygenation.
Clear, flowing water
Cohesive schooling behavior to avoid predation Clear, flowing water
Adequate food availability midges, caddisflies, mayflies, etc.
Cover shells, bottles, cans, tires, woody debris, etc..
Clear, flowing water 1 to 3 feet deep
Appropriate substrate leaf litter, sand, gravel, cobble Adequate food availability midges, caddisflies, mayflies, etc..
Cover shells, bottles, cans, tires, woody debris, etc..

Resource function BFSD

Information source
B

Burr et al. 1989, p. 75.

B, S

Burr et al. 1989, p. 78.

F, S

Burr et al. 1989, p. 78.

F, S, D

Burr et al. 1989, p. 63
Midway et al. 2010, p. 326.

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B = breeding; F = feeding; S = sheltering; D = dispersal.

We have determined that the following physical or biological features are essential to the conservation of Carolina madtom:
1 Suitable substrates and connected instream habitats, characterized by geomorphically stable stream channels and banks i.e., channels that maintain
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lateral dimensions, longitudinal profiles, and sinuosity patterns over time without an aggrading or degrading bed elevation with habitats that support a diversity of freshwater native fish such as stable riffle-run-pool habitats that provide flow refuges consisting of silt-free gravel, small cobble, coarse
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sand, and leaf litter substrates as well as abundant cover used for nesting.
2 Adequate flows, or a hydrologic flow regime which includes the severity, frequency, duration, and seasonality of discharge over time, necessary to maintain instream habitats where the species is found and to
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