After rising to national attention through a harrowing rescue by Tennessee Aquarium scientists in 2024, one of North America’s most-endangered fishes, the Laurel Dace, has been immortalized in a statue currently touring locations near its last remaining native streams.
The sculpture was made from recycled plastic litter by Oregon-based artistic collective Washed Ashore and depicts a pair of Laurel Dace swimming above a gravelly stream bed similar to the last two streams where the species is still found on Walden’s Ridge north of Chattanooga.
Now, it’s going on the road to raise awareness of this embattled species’ plight through temporary residencies at schools and other locations in Rhea and Bledsoe Counties.
Casey Phillips – Tennessee Aquarium