snail darter
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snail darter,
a small, rare fish, Percina tanasi, discovered by a zoologist who was snorkeling in the Little Tennessee River upstream from the projected Tellico Dam. Dam opponents fought successfully to include the darter on the Endangered Species List in 1975 (see endangered speciesendangered species,any plant or animal species whose ability to survive and reproduce has been jeopardized by human activities. In 1999 the U.S. government, in accordance with the U.S.
..... Click the link for more information. ), and the dam was halted. In 1978, the Supreme Court sided with environmentalists, but Congress declared the fish nonendangered and the Tellico was built. Snail darters are classified in the phylum ChordataChordata
, phylum of animals having a notochord, or dorsal stiffening rod, as the chief internal skeletal support at some stage of their development. Most chordates are vertebrates (animals with backbones), but the phylum also includes some small marine invertebrate animals.
..... Click the link for more information. , subphylum Vertebrata, class Actinopterygii, order Perciformes, family Percidae.
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