On June 3rd, several members of the Appalachian Chapter and a couple from the Nashville area met up on the Conasauga River. Jim Herrig and Petra Setlich from the National Forest Service graciously volunteered their Saturday to taking us snorkeling on the river. We started with a  short class on the fish species available in the Conasauga watershed. Its 70+ species far outnumbers the species in the Colorado River and other western watersheds, which is interesting based on its small size in comparison to he western streams. This shows that this system is old and diverse.

After the quick class, we put on our wet suits and masks and hit the water. The water was higher than normal due to recent rains which made swimming a bit interesting. We saw many fish and some very large bullfrog tadpoles. The most interesting site was a fish called the Alabama Shiner. This fish spawns in crevices in rocks. During spawning season, little thorns or horns on the male's head turn a baby blue color. We watched as one of these beautiful fish defended its nest against other males and invited females into his den to spawn. It was an amazing site, although I felt a little like a peeping Tom.

In addition to the Alabama Shiner, we saw  Spotted Bass, Freshwater Drum, several darters(one of which was the color a Christmas Tree), chubs, and hogsuckers. The one fish I don't recall seeing was a trout. Hopefully we'll see them next year as I hope we can make this an annual chapter activity.

Robert Wilson