The Bluestone sculpin (Cottus sp.1) is an undescribed freshwater fish endemic to the New River system in Virginia and West Virginia. The taxonomic status of the Bluestone sculpin is unresolved, and its range often overlaps with congeners, with which it may hybridize. The species is most often found in small, cool streams with gravel and rubble dominated substrates. Juveniles and adults are found most often in runs and riffles of boulder and rubble (Jenkins and Burkhead 1994). Many of the streams presumed to be within the species’ range run along highways and may be vulnerable to non-point source pollution. Treatment plants and agricultural runoff are also potential threats to the species. To address the science...
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, working with state and federal agencies with regulatory authority over turtles in the northeastern U.S., makes decisions about the confiscation and disposition of multiple species of turtles encountered via legal and extra-legal trade routes. Illegal collection of wild animals for the pet trade has resulted in population declines (Stanford et al. 2020), and U.S. freshwater turtles are particularly vulnerable to illegal collection (Mali et al 2014). Decisions about the disposition of confiscated animals, including whether animals may be released in the wild, are complicated by uncertainty and risk, primarily of the health and genetic (i.e., originating population) status of individual...
