The Center for Biological Diversity Monday sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on claims it failed to protect the habitat for spring pygmy sunfish under the Endangered Species Act.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

In the lawsuit, the Center explained that the spring pygmy sunfish has been driven "locally extinct" in two of the three springs it was known to live. The fish are now found in the six stream miles, 1,435 acres of spring pools and other wetlands near the Beaverdam Spring and Creek watershed.

The Center claims this remaining habitat for the fish is at risk of being destroyed by plans to build an automobile plant in the watershed. Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. announced plans to build an automotive plant just west of Huntsville and adjacent to the Beaverdam Spring and Creek complex.

"Habitat destruction pushed this little fish to the brink of extinction, and it'll be the final nail in the coffin if the Service doesn't protect what little habitat remains," said Elise Bennett, a staff attorney at the Center. "Allowing urban sprawl and manufacturing plants to degrade the spring pygmy sunfish's unprotected pools and wetlands puts the entire species at risk."

The Center petitioned to protect the spring pygmy sunfish under the Endangered Species Act in 2009. The Fish and Wildlife Service protected the sunfish as a threatened species in 2013 and proposed protections for eight stream miles and 1,617 acres of spring pool and spring-influenced critical habitat in Limestone County.

In the lawsuit, The Center claimed the Fish and Wildlife Service has not finalized its critical habitat proposal more than four years after the species was listed as threatened in October 2013. The fish has twice been considered extinct since its discovery in 1937.

The spring pygmy sunfish is a tiny fish that rarely grows more than an inch. It lives in the dense aquatic vegetation around springs in the Tennessee River Drainage.

The Toyota-Mazda plant is projected to be a 2,400-acre site with two manufacturing lines that will produce up to 300,000 cars each year. The plant is projected to be up and running by 2021.

The Center claims the new roads, buildings and parking lots that will come with the plant will "impact water quality and disrupt water flow to the springs where the rare fish lives," pushing the fish into extinction.

"The spring pygmy sunfish's clean springs, flowing creeks and spring-fed wetlands are precious to wildlife and people," Bennett said. "The spring pygmy sunfish's struggle is a warning that we need to protect these waters before it's too late."