with brightly colored rocks. Life history Emerald darters spawn in late April and early May. Though actual spawning has not been observed, attempts by males to mate include swimming from side to side over the female's back. Further, males have been observed in the wild trying to mount unresponsive females from behind or from the side. Emerald darter larvae usually measure 4.5 to 6.0 mm in length and emerge from the egg with yolk sacs still attached. Water temperature has a direct correlation with juvenile development, with warmer water temperatures resulting in a faster development and smaller sizes. Warmer temperatures can have even more detrimental effects on populations. Warmer temperatures in the later weeks of the breeding season can cause females to reabsorb their eggs and become unreceptive. Spawning occurs in the center of riffles. Larger males place themselves in pools near the middle of these turbulent areas so they will have a higher probability of encountering more females, which tend to use these areas. Emerald darters prefer gravel substrates that lack silt. Eggs and sperm are released simultaneously through mutual vibration and are attached by the female directly onto the gravel substrate. Emerald darters generally average 36 offspring per year. Most captured emerald darters have been aged at up to three years old. In the Red River drainage, 53% of the population survived its second year, while only 7.7% survived the third. Third-year individuals were predominantly male. Current management The emerald darter is not currently listed as a state or federal threatened species, though they are experiencing population declines in Tennessee. Though emerald darters have experienced population fragmentation, their range has not undergone declines. Threats to populations include limited range, as well as strip-mining, which results in heavy siltation of the gravel substrates on which they depend for reproduction. Damming of Tennessee's main waterways has fragmented the emerald darter's habitat. Kentucky's populations are not considered threatened. Management implications would include buffer areas around streams and wetlands to prevent deforestation. This would assist in the prevention of siltation in gravel substrates. More responsible coal practices or eliminating strip-mining altogether will have obvious effects on streams known to contain populations of emerald darters. Strategies such as these are imperative to the conservation of E. baileyi because even localized destruction of its habitat could have devastating effects on its populations. Unfortunately, emerald darters’ benthic feeding habits make this species significantly more susceptible