Scioto Madtom, 2022
mixed media on paper with metallic accents
5.125" x 7"
$97 including US shipping
From the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposal for removing 23 species from the Federal Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants due to extinction:
The Scioto madtom ( Noturus trautmani ) was listed as endangered on September 25, 1975 (40 FR 44149) due to the pollution and siltation of its habitat and the proposal to construct two impoundments within its range. The Scioto madtom was a small, nocturnal species of catfish in the family Ictaluridae. The Scioto madtom has been found only in a small section of Big Darby Creek, a major tributary to the Scioto River, and was believed to be endemic to the Scioto River basin in central Ohio.
The Scioto madtom was an omnivorous bottom feeder that ate a wide variety of plant and animal life, which it found with its sensory barbels hanging down in front of its mouth. Little is known of its reproductive habits, although it likely spawned in summer and migrated downstream in the fall. The exact cause of the Scioto madtom's decline is unknown, but was likely due to modification of its habitat from siltation, suspended industrial effluents, and agricultural runoff