After rising to national attention through a harrowing rescue by Tennessee Aquarium scientists in 2024, one of North America’s most-endangered fishes, the Laurel Dace, has been immortalized in a statue currently touring locations near its last remaining native streams.
The sculpture was made from recycled plastic litter by Oregon-based artistic collective Washed Ashore. It depicts a pair of Laurel Dace with their distinctive red bellies, golden bodies, highlighter yellow fins and red lips. The pair are depicted swimming above a gravelly stream bed similar to the last two streams where the species is still found on Walden’s Ridge north of Chattanooga.
The sculpture debuted at the Tennessee Aquarium in November during the grand opening of the S.T.R.E.A.M. Learning Center, supported by Unum. Now, it’s going on the road to raise awareness of this embattled species’ plight through temporary residencies at schools and other locations in Rhea and Bledsoe Counties.
With its basis on the Pacific coastline — also the source of its recycled art supplies — Washed Ashore’s slogan is “art to save the sea.” In this case, however, being able to shine a spotlight on an incredibly imperiled inland species was a breath of fresh water, says Washed Ashore Artist and Exhibit Manager Marilyn Wright…