family Chironomidae make up the bulk of their diets. Depending on size, between 80% and 100% of the stomachs contained midge larvae. Mayfly nymphs, caddisfly larvae, copepods, and cladocerans were also well represented in the stomach contents. Competition with other species of darters is intense, as dietary overlap among species is relatively high, with selectivity occurring at the prey genus and species, but not family, levels. Consumption of food is highest in April, corresponding with the peak of spawning, while it is much lower during months of temperature extremes and decreased activity, such as January and July. Life history Etheostoma simoterum atripinne reaches sexual maturity in about one year and only survives for a breeding season (maximum life expectancy is about 18 months), which occurs in April to early May. Leading up to the breeding season, males develop bright colors, and by April, all males are deep green to blue-green in color with red-orange dorsal fins and red spots along their bodies. In fact, descriptions of species in the E. simoterum complex of snubnose darters, a group of six teleost freshwater fish species, are based largely on male nuptial coloration. Females do not appear to change in color during breeding. Males court females by erecting their fins and displaying their brilliant colors. A courtship is successful if the female leads the male to a sometimes preselected site, such as a large gravel bed, for egg deposition. Spawning is generally spread out over several spawning sites. After spawning, no parental care for the fertilized eggs is given, as they are left unguarded. However, current research indicates the evolution of a greater degree of parental care pertaining to males guarding the eggs in darters such as E. atripinne. Fully matured eggs are transparent, contain oil droplets for buoyancy, and are an average of 1.2 mm in diameter. The number of eggs a female lays ranges from 110 to 240. Taxonomy The Cumberland snubnose darter was first formally described as Arlina atripinnis in 1877 by the American ichthyologist David Starr Jordan with the type locality given as a tributary of the Cumberland River in the vicinity of Nashville, Tennessee. Current management E. atripinne is listed as “secure” in Tennessee, so not much effort has been put into the management of the species on a state or federal level. However, the Cumberland snubnose darter is very sensitive to siltification. In fact, this may be