The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced proposed protections for Alabama’s slenderclaw crayfish under the Endangered Species Act, according to a press release.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Alabama Rivers Alliance and allies petitioned for protection of the crayfish in 2010. The groups say the species is threatened by poor water quality resulting from dams and pollution.

“The endangerment of the slenderclaw crayfish tells the story of the havoc we’ve wreaked on our rivers,” said Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the CBD “With the protection of the Endangered Species Act, we have the chance to save this little crayfish for future generations.”

The tiny crayfish has declined by 80 percent and now survives only in two creeks on Sand Mountain, near Lake Guntersville in DeKalb and Marshall counties. Most of the crayfish’s habitat was flooded when the Tennessee River was dammed to create 69,000-acre Lake Guntersville in 1939.

The slenderclaw crayfish is just 1.5 inches long, with cream-and-orange mottling. It prefers shallow, slow-flowing streams with intact riparian cover. It needs clean water because excess silt and sediment fills in the spaces between the rocks it uses for sheltering, and because it feeds on mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies that also need clean water.

In a 2014 study, scientists surveyed 55 locations to find the crayfish. They concluded that it is now missing from the vast majority of its range. They recommended the crayfish be considered for federal protection. Additional surveys have found very few crayfish, and both the Short Creek and Town Creek populations are considered to have low resiliency.