Christina Marcolini Therapeutic Massage

I'm having brunch with the birds and a bee.

DNR biologists made an exciting discovery at a recent BioBlitz in southwest Indiana.🎉

Our nongame aquatics biologists participated in the annual Indiana Academy of Science BioBlitz held at Harmonie State Park. During the event, a state endangered Bantam Sunfish was collected from two small Wabash River tributaries!

Prior to this discovery, the Bantam Sunfish had only been reported from two other locations in the state, however, those collections weren't confirmed by DNR biologists.

Extreme southwest Indiana marks the northern extent of the Bantam Sunfish’s range. After this recent find, the DNR nongame aquatics team plans to expand its search in the area, hopefully finding a larger source population.

A BioBlitz is an event rooted around discovery, where professionals and amateur enthusiasts come together to search for and document as many different species as possible within a certain location.

Learn more about Indiana's rare and endangered species and the work being done to protect them here: on.IN.gov/nongamewildlifefund