Candidate Species
What is a candidate species? A candidate species is the status of a species that
will soon be listed as threatened or endangered.
It is literally a candidate to become listed, therefore
protected by the federal government.
View all candidate species in the U.S. at the Candidate
Notice of Review [PDF].
How do species become candidates?
First it is brought to attention that a particular species may be
at risk, meaning its population is decreasing.
Once the problem is discovered, the Panama City
Field Office completes a status survey
to
determine the level of danger for the species. From
this point, several things can happen. If the threat
is high enough, the species will be submitted to
be listed as either threatened or
endangered. This can
take a significant amount of time and money. In the
meantime, the species can be listed as a species
at risk, which implies that it should be monitored
carefully and steps will be taken to keep
the species from becoming
a candidate for the threatened or endangered list.
If you would like to report a species that might be at risk, please
email the Panama City Field
Office.
What is being done to protect candidate species?
The Panama City Field Office works closely with the state of Florida
and landowners to protect candidate and at-risk
species. Status surveys are completed to determine
the level of risk and then a
conservation plan is put into action.
View current candidate conservation efforts.
View the Candidate Conservation Agreement
Handbook [PDF].
Candidate species in the area
The Panama City Field Office currently has seven candidate
species of freshwater mussels which occur within Northwest
Florida and Alabama rivers. The species are the round ebonyshell,
southern kidneyshell, narrow pigtoe, southern sandshell,
fuzzy pigtoe, tapered pigtoe, and Choctaw bean. You can
read more about the status and threats of these species
in the 2003
Candidate Notice of Review [PDF].
View the species
at risk list.
Report a species
Anyone can petition for a species to become listed.
Many state biologists, conservation groups and concerned
citizens have helped the Panama City Field Office identify
species that are at risk. If you would like to report a
species, please e-mail
the Panama City Field Office.
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