Featured Species

Georgia is home to more than 70 species for plants and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act. 

Our team of biologists at Georgia Ecological Services are the national lead for recovery efforts for 17 federally threatened or endangered species. We also work with other federally protected species that occur in our service area – including threatened and endangered species for which other offices have the recovery lead, and species protected under other laws, such as the bald eagle, protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

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Georgia Ecological Services leads recovery planning efforts for the following species:

Low growing plant with three mottled leaves growing radially and dark purple flowers at the center

Relict trillium is a rhizotomous perennial plant that can be identified by its whorl of three leaves that sit on an S-shaped hairless stem (Chafin 2007). The ovate to elliptic leaves have distinctive shades of light green, dark green, bronze-green, and dark purple and will often show a silver...

FWS Focus
Species
Kingdom
Plantae
Taxonomic Rank
Species
A jet black snake with reddish orange coloring around it's face on sandy soil

Average adult size is 60-74 inches (152-188 cm), record is 103.5 inches (262.8 cm). Adults are large and thick bodied. The body is glossy black and in sunlight has iridescent blue highlights. The chin and throat is reddish or white, and the color may extend down the body. The belly is cloudy...

FWS Focus
Species
Kingdom
Animalia
Taxonomic Rank
Species
A baby tortoise perches in grass and looks at the camera.

The gopher tortoise is a large, (shell 15 to 37 centimeters or 5.9 to 14.6 inches long) dark-brown to grayish-black terrestrial turtle with elephantine hind feet, shovel-like forefeet, and a gular projection beneath the head on the yellowish, hingeless plastron or undershell (Ernst and Barbour...

FWS Focus
Species
Kingdom
Animalia
Taxonomic Rank
Species
A fish with an elongate thin body and dark blue-black horizontal stripe swims in a clear stream.

The blue shiner is a medium-sized minnow that grows to about 100 millimeters (4 inches) in total length. Males are larger than females. Nonbreeding males and females are dusky blue with pale yellow fins. The scales are diamond-shaped and outlined with melanophores. The lateral line is distinct....

FWS Focus
Species
Kingdom
Animalia
Taxonomic Rank
Species
A small thin-bodied fish with a pointed snout, rounded fins, dark saddles, and mottled pattern along its sides.

The Etowah darter is a small, percid fish (1.6-2.2 inch, adult size) that is moderately compressed laterally and has a moderately pointed snout with a terminal, obliquely angled mouth. The body ground shade is medium brown or grayish olive. The lower opercle and branchiostegal rays have a pale...

FWS Focus
Species
Kingdom
Animalia
Taxonomic Rank
Species
Small bodied fish with a blunt snout, rounded fins, three saddles, and a blotched mottled pattern along the sides of its body.

The trispot darter is a small bodied, benthic fish ranging in size from 1.3 – 1.6 inches as adults. The darter has three prominent black dorsal saddles, pale undersurface, and a dark bar below the eye. Scattered dark blotches exist on the fins rays. During the breeding season, males are a...

FWS Focus
Species
Kingdom
Animalia
Taxonomic Rank
Species
A fish with dark brown vertical stripes across its body rests on a bed of small pebbles and gravel.

The Conasauga logperch is a large darter that reaches up to 5.25 inches in length (133 mm). It has a fleshy, pig-like snout, with a tip that extends beyond the upper jaw. There is a prominent tear drop below each eye and a large spot at the base of the caudal fin. The dorsal and caudal fins are...

FWS Focus
Species
Kingdom
Animalia
Taxonomic Rank
Species

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