VALDOSTA — You have probably never heard of or seen a blackbanded sunfish. This is due, in large part, to its size.

“A big one’s a monster at three inches,” said Dr. David Bechler, a Valdosta State University biology professor.

Also, there hasn’t been a new population of blackbanded sunfish found since 1980 — and an old population reconfirmed in 2001 ... until Bechler and VSU graduate student Josh Salter found one.

“Josh and I came across a new population last year,” said Bechler.

Since summer 2011, a VSU team — consisting of Bechler, Salter, post-baccalaureate field assistant Julia Fink and undergraduate Ashley Barnes — has been working with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources under the direction of Brett Albanese. He is the director of non-game fisheries and the lead DNR official associated with the project. Together, they pull seines, set traps and use dip nets in Carolina bays, swamps and streams, thick with muck and aquatic plants, in search of the rare and elusive species called the blackbanded sunfish.

“If you can find these populations and show that they are still in existence, then you know that your habitat is doing well,” said Bechler.

Bechler and Salter’s findings will help the DNR Wildlife Resources Division conserve the blackbanded sunfish which is state-listed in Georgia as endangered and considered a health indicator of the natural ecosystems it inhabits.

“To give you an idea of how rare they are, we have sampled 72 sites and we found one new population and reaffirmed one old population,” said Bechler.

Less than four inches long and marked by black bars on the sides, the rare species is found from Florida to New Jersey. The fish is protected in most states because of its rareness. The blackbanded sunfish has lost habitat sites due to natural and man-made causes such as drought, development and excessive water withdrawals.

“These particular fish like shallow shore level habitats with a moderate level of vegetation,” said Bechler.

The last major survey in Florida found no fish.

“It’s really difficult to find them in one population,” said Salter.

Having discovered a new population, Bechler stated that the next step is the development of math modeling called occupancy modeling.

“Occupancy modeling looks over big, broad scales,” said Bechler. “We will feed our data into that.”

Georgia is a leading state both in aquatic biodiversity and aquatic fauna at risk. About 30 percent of the state’s freshwater fishes and crayfishes are extinct, endangered, threatened or considered species of special concern. The blackbanded sunfish survey is part of a non-game conservation section initiative started in 1998 to determine the status of Georgia’s aquatic fauna and develop conservation plans for declining species.

“The state also has us looking at other species of fish,” said Bechler.

Salter is trying to identify the rare Elassoma gilberti or the Gulf Coast pigmy sunfish. So far, it has been collected at two sites in the course of this study in southern Aucilla River wetlands and Connell Creek in Thomas County.

“They’re a recently described species,” said Salter. “Their total distribution is largely unknown.”

Most common in Alabama and southwest Georgia, the Gulf Coast pigmy sunfish was first identified in 2009 by Matt Cannister, one of Bechler’s former graduate students. Cannister is with the U.S. Geological Service in Gainesville, Fla.

“I’m currently going through hundreds of samples,” said Salter. “You have to spend a lot of time looking under microscopes.”

Barnes and Fink primarily worked with another species called the topminnows, a common group freshwater and marine fish found throughout the eastern United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

“They are not rare or endangered,” said Fink.

Research work on this group of fish is designed to provide the DNR with a better understanding of which species are present in South Georgia and their distribution.

Barnes and Fink are looking at the fish on a genealogical and a morphological level.

“We’re trying to determine if they are population variations or if this is something new,” said Bechler.

While Wright has significantly contributed to Bechler’s work, he isn’t actually working on the same project. His work on fish assemblages is closely associated with some of Bechler’s primary objectives and his field sites have been studied as a part of his project.

“I look at bridge sites,” said Wright.

Wright focuses on the impact of bridges on fish assemblages. Essentially, he examines locations where humans have built bridges that have, over time, naturalized.

“We dig out under the bridges to help sustain the bridges,” said Wright. “There’s generally more diversity at the bridge site which goes against the literature.”

Large-scale bridge sites are primarily bad in terms of sustaining a habitat, but in smaller sites, they appear to provide a refuge to certain species in a time of drought.

The project, funded in part by VSU and the Non-Game Conservation Section, has given researchers a chance to better understand factors contributing to where the species is found in South Georgia.

“An understanding of the species in this area ... is not that well developed,” said Wright.

Bechler and his VSU team owe many of their discoveries to their invasive exploration of habitats in South Georgia.

“Most people have never just gone into those habitats to sample,” said Bechler.

Not only does this research provide valuable information that aids in the conservation of various species, but it also gives students invaluable experience. Bechler is grateful not only for the dedication of his students, but for the DNR for taking an interest in this project and the private land owners who have allowed the team access to the sites.