Here Are The Most Endangered Animals In Georgia

When you think of the planet’s most endangered species, some common examples that might come to mind include rhinos, elephants, tigers, gorillas and leopards. But a new report has identified the two most endangered species in every state — and the answer might not be what you think.

In Georgia the two most threatened animals are the Etowah Darter (etheostoma etowahae) and the North Atlantic Right Whale (eubalaena glacialis), according to the report released by 24/7 Wall St.

• Etowah Darter
• Scientific name: etheostoma etowahae
• IUCN Red List classification: Vulnerable
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service classification: Endangered
• Description: The Etowah darter is a small, percid fish (1.6-2.2 inch, adult size) that has a moderately pointed snout with a terminal, obliquely angled mouth. The body ground shade is medium brown or grayish olive. The spinous dorsal fin is suffused dusky black olive with a red margin. The soft dorsal and caudal fin have four bands. The pelvic fins are clear to dusky black with a pale green blue wash; pectoral fins are dusky black.
• Geographic range: Range includes the Etowah River system (above and below Altoona Reservoir, in northern Georgia; Etowah River mainstem and eight tributaries: Amicalola Creek, Shoal Creek in Dawson County, Long Swamp Creek, Yellow Creek, Smithwick Creek, Stamp Creek, and Raccoon Creek.
• Habitat: Adults typically occur in riffles of streams with moderate to strong current over gravel. Warm and cool, medium and large creeks or small rivers that have moderate or high gradient and rocky bottoms.

• North Atlantic Right Whale
• Scientific name: eubalaena glacialis
• IUCN Red List classification: Endangered
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service classification: Endangered
• Description: Tight whales are large baleen whales. Females are larger than males. Their tail is broad, deeply notched, and all black with a smooth trailing edge. They weigh up to 79 tons and can be about 50 feet long. They have a lifespan of about 70 years.
• Geographic range: Includes Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia.
• Habitat: Right whales feed on calanoid copepods and other small invertebrates generally by slowly skimming through patches of concentrated prey at or below the surface. The most common prey species is the copepod Calanus finmarchicus.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are 48 threatened or endangered species in the Peach State, including the gray bat, loggerhead turtle and the frosted flatwoods salamander.

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Hawaii has by far the most number of animals on the federal registry at more than 500. While accounting for just 0.2 percent of America’s land mass, it is home to a quarter of the federally endangered species, according to the Mother Nature Network.

Other animals on the 24/7 Wall St. list include various species of sea turtles, rabbits and cranes. More broadly, it features mammals, marine animals, fish, insects, birds, amphibians and reptiles, to name just a few.Various species of mollusks — a key sustenance source for fish — make the list, including the spectaclecase, a freshwater mussel. This is often because of the construction of dams, which disrupt the flow of water and can even change its temperature, leading to massive mollusk losses.

The financial news and opinion site reviewed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s listing of endangered animals to identify the most threatened animals in every state. The site says many of the animals appear in multiple states.

“Only 31 states have animals endangered only there,” the authors said.

To identify which of the threatened animals in those states were in the most dire circumstances, the site used the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s inventory of threatened species. Many of the most threatened animals on on the IUCN’s “Red List of Threatened Species” were labeled “critically endangered.”

The report used this same approach to evaluate the threat level of endangered animals in the remaining 19 states, but in these cases animals may be listed as endangered in other states as well.

Patch reporter Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

PHOTO: A Loggerhead sea turtle hatchling is half buried in the sand. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)