Banded Sculpin
Cottus carolinae (Gill, 1861)

Taxonomy

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygophile

Realm

Aquatic

Distribution

Range

Known from 17 counties across six states.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Tennessee

Counties

Alabama

DeKalb, Jackson, Madison, Marshall

Georgia

Dade, Walker

Illinois

Monroe

Kentucky

Breckinridge, Edmonson, Hardin, Larue

Oklahoma

Delaware

Tennessee

Coffee, Grundy, Montgomery, Sequatchie, Van Buren

Conservation and management

IUCN Red List

LC Least Concern

Assessed in 2013.

NatureServe

G5 Secure

National ranks

United States

N5 Secure

Subnational ranks

Tennessee

S5 Secure

Alabama

S5 Secure

Indiana

S4 Apparently Secure

Arkansas

S4 Apparently Secure

Kansas

S1 Critically Imperiled

Illinois

S2 Imperiled

Oklahoma

SNR Unranked

Virginia

S3 Vulnerable

Georgia

S4 Apparently Secure

North Carolina

S1 Critically Imperiled

Mississippi

S3 Vulnerable

Missouri

SNR Unranked

Kentucky

S4 Apparently Secure

State and federal status

Not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act

References

• Boschung, Jr., H.T. 1961. An annotated list of fishes from the Coosa River system of Alabama. The American Midland Naturalist 66: 257–285. doi:10.2307/2423028
• Boschung, Jr., H.T. & Mayden, R.L. 2004. Fishes of Alabama. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA. 736 pp. ISBN 978–1588340047.
• Cooper, J.E. & Cooper, M.R. 2011. Observations on the biology of the endangered stygobiotic shrimp Palaemonias alabamae, with notes on P. ganteri (Decapoda: Atyidae). Subterranean Biology 8: 9–20.
• Fenolio, D.B. 2012. 2012 Ozark aquatic subterranean wildlife surveys. Report to Oklahoma Biological Survey. Atlanta Botanical Garden, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 3 pp.
• Fenolio, D.B., Niemiller, M.L., Slay, M.E. & Carter, E.T. 2017. Biological inventories of caves in the Ozarks of northeastern Oklahoma: December 2017 field report. Report to Oklahoma Biological Survey. San Antonio Zoo, San Antonio, Texas, USA. 17 pp.
• Fenolio, D.B., Slay, M.E. & Niemiller, M.L. 2023. Biological inventories of caves in the Ozarks of northeastern Oklahoma: December 2023 field report. Report to Oklahoma Biological Survey. San Antonio Zoo, San Antonio, Texas, USA. 24 pp.
• Gage, L. 2025. Preliminary observation of terrestrial, aquatic, and aerial fauna in Breathing Hole Cave. Northern Indiana Grotto Newsletter: 1–7.
• Hobbs, III., H.H. 1994. Assessment of the ecological resources of the caves of Russell Cave National Monument, Jackson County, Alabama and of selected caves at the Lookout Mountain Unit of Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park, Dade County, Georgia and Hamilton County, Tennessee. 200 pp.
• Lewis, J.J. 2005. A biological inventory of caves of the Cumberland Plateau. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 156 pp.
• Lewis, J.J. & Lewis, S.L. 2007. A biological reconnaissance of selected caves in the Highland Rim area of central Tennessee. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 42 pp.
• McGregor, S.W., Rheams, K.F., O'Neil, P.E., Moser, P.H. & Blackwood, R. 1994. Biological, geological, and hydrological investigations in Bobcat, Matthews, and Shelta caves and other selected caves in north Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. 226 pp.
• McGregor, S.W., O'Neil, P.E., Rheams, K.F., Moser, P.H. & Blackwood, R. 1997. Biological, geological, and hydrological investigations in Bobcat, Matthews, and Shelta caves and other selected caves in north Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama Bulletin 166: 1–198.
• Niemiller, M.L., Inebnit, T., Hinkle, A., Jones, B.D., Jones, M., Lamb, J., Mann, N., Miller, B., Pinkley, J., Pitts, S., Sapkota, K.N. & Slay, M.E. 2019. Discovery of a new population of the federally endangered Alabama cave shrimp, Palaemonias alabamae Smalley, 1961, in northern Alabama. Subterranean Biology 32: 43–59. doi:10.3897/subtbiol.32.38280
• Pearson, W.D. & Boston, C.H., Jr. 1995. Distribution and status of the northern cavefish, Amblyopsis spelaea. Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Fish and Wildlife, Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program,, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. 99 pp.
• Poulson, T.L. 1961. Cave adaptation in amblyopsid cavefishes. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. 185 pp. doi:10.7302/9847
• Rheams, K.F., Moser, P.H. & McGregor, S.W. 1992. Geologic, hydrologic, and biologic investigations in Arrowwood, Bobcat, Matthews, and Shelta caves and selected caves, Madison, County, Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. 262 pp.
• Rheams, K.F., Moser, P.H. & McGregor, S.W. 1994. Hydrogeologic and biologic factors related to the occurrence of the Alabama cave shrimp (Palaemonias alabamae), Madison County, Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama Bulletin 161: 1–147.
• Webb, D.W., Taylor, S.J. & Krejca, J.K. 1993. The biological resources of Illinois caves and other subterranean environments. Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, Illinois, USA. 143 pp.
• Zigler, K.S., Niemiller, M.L., Stephen, C.D.R., Ayala, B.N., Milne, M.A., Gladstone, N.S., Engel, A.S., Jensen, J.B., Camp, C.D., Ozier, J.C. & Cressler, A. 2020. Biodiversity from caves and other subterranean habitats of Georgia, USA. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 82: 125–167. doi:10.4311/2019LSC0125

How to cite this account

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

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