The blueside darter (Etheostoma jessiae) is usually found in the Tennessee River drainage in Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Virginia, and less commonly found in Bear Creek, Shoal Creek, and Barren Fork. The specific name jessiae refers to Jessie Brayton, wife of the junior author of the species. Introduction This is a description of a monitoring plan for the blueside darter (Etheosstoma jessiae). Etheostoma are a genus of small freshwater fish commonly referred to as Darters. Darters occur throughout the Tennessee River drainage, excluding the upper Clinch and Powell Rivers from Whiteoak Creek, Humphreys county, TN, upstream into the French Broad River system, NC, The blueside darter is a remember of the subgenus Doration. Originally all darters in this subgenus were identified as a single species, but this group has been described as being a highly variable species thus the species has been differentiated into five spate species, the blueside darter being on e of the newer species The blueside darter has a long, pointed snout with a narrow frenum on the upper lip, a relatively large mouth, and a deep blue body (compared to turquoise-blue). The male blueside darters have 9-10 W-shaped bars along their sides, which appear as solid blue square blotches confined to the lateral area during the spawning season. The dorsal side of the blueside darter has six hourglass-shaped saddles and is diffusely speckled. They have a spiny dorsal fin with a blue band and a wide orange band immediately dorsal to it. The soft dorsal, caudal, and pectoral fins are dusky with distinct orange stippling in all rays. Iridescent blue is restricted to the pre-opercle and lower opercles. Males are very brightly colored during breeding season Currently the blueside darter is listed as a species of least concern because its range of occurrence, number of subpopulations, and population size are relatively large, and because the species is probably not declining fast enough to qualify for any of the threatened categories The total adult population size is unknown but surpasses 10.000 individuals However, in some parts of its range the population is slowly declining due to anthropogenic factors such as siltation, agricultural runoff, and water pollution Reintroductions and water quality improvement measures have been underway in areas where population trends are dwindling Geographic Distribution The range of the blueside darter is maintained in the Southeastern portion of North America The bluside darter in habits most of