Arkansas Wildlife Podcast Ep. 102: Exploring Arkansas's Endemic Fish a Sneak Peek into Fish Ecology

Host Trey Reid talks with Arkansas Game and Fish Commission fish ecologist Chance Garrett about his statewide work on species of greatest conservation need, threatened and endangered fish monitoring, and why non-game species matter to food webs and conservation. Garrett highlights Arkansas endemics like the strawberry darter and Ouachita and Caddo madtoms, then focuses on the leopard darter, endemic to the Little River system. He explains how reservoir construction in the 1960s–70s fragmented prime habitat, leading to extirpation in the Cossatot and Rolling Fork rivers and leaving a stable population in the Mountain Fork. The episode covers propagation with Conservation Fisheries Incorporated, releases of nearly 400 fish into the Cossatot with more planned, monitoring results showing overwinter survival, plans to scale propagation in-house, and the species’ narrow spawning window and unique early life stage. Garrett encourages listeners to snorkel local clear streams to see native fish diversity.