ATLANTA - Florida is appealing a judge's decision that protects Georgia from demands that it release more water from a series of dams to protected threatened or endangered species downstream.

Florida filed its notice of appeal Monday in federal court in Orlando, Fla.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's administration wants the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a July decision by U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson.

The lower court judge rejected Florida's demands that more water be released from dams along the Chattahoochee River to benefit the gulf sturgeon, the fat threeridge mussel and the purple bankclimber mussel that live in the Apalachicola River.

A date for arguments hasn't been set.

Magnuson has threatened to severely restrict Atlanta's water supply unless Georgia, Alabama and Florida resolve a long-running water dispute.