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Spring Pygmy Sunfish (Elassoma alabamae)
Spring Pygmy Sunfish (Elassoma alabamae), reproductive adults (male, top - female, bottom), photographed at Conservation Fisheries Inc. This is an imperiled species from a single site that is earmarked to become a Toyota plant. Listed by the IUCN as critically endangered.
The spring pygmy sunfish, ''Elassoma alabamae'', is a species of pygmy sunfish endemic to the United States, where it is only known from a single spring system in Alabama. Originally this species occurred in three separate spring systems, all draining into the Tennessee River. Currently it occurs in Limestone County in the Beaverdam-Moss Spring/Swamp spring system. This species prefers waters with dense vegetation. It can reach 3.3 cm in total length, though most do not exceed 2 cm .
