Three small, easily overlooked fish swimming in Valley Creek near Birmingham, Alabama, are: the Birmingham darter, the watercress darter, and the blackbanded darter. Each is about two inches long—olive-toned, banded, and built for life on the stream bottom, with large pectoral fins that let them perch among gravel and flow. For years, they were thought to be variations of the same species. In April 2025, genomic analysis confirmed something more…
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