A fish found only in waterways near the Scioto River has gone the way of the dinosaurs and the passenger pigeon. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources declared the Scioto madtom extinct after 50 years on the state’s endangered species list.
The was a small, nocturnal species of catfish. According to ODNR, “The Scioto madtom was known to hide during the day under rocks or in vegetation and emerge after dark to forage along the bottom of the stream. Scientists believe that modification of the fish’s habitat from siltation, industrial pollution, and agricultural runoff led to the species’ decline.”
Though endangered species protections did not save the madtom, ODNR says those same protections have preserved trumpeter swans, peregrine falcons, bald eagles, river otters, and several darter species.
