3505

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 3505
• Author: Rinne, J., et al., ed. 1986.
• Title: American Fisheries Society,
• USFW Year: Role o
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: YES

:t,',

THREATENED & ENDANGERED FISHES

Table 1. Fish species being held at Dexter NFH, New Mexico, as of July 1,1982,

I.'/(.

Spedes

! I" I '/~ ; Family Catostomidae
,)0: Razorback sucker
, Family Cyprinidae
Ii \ . u. .' Colorado squawfish,
.... '.<r'! Bony tail .'
~~ '-. .J;.",r'~i:_; Humpback chub
, Rounqtail chub.
!, . Gila chub.2
" .iii~! I Sonora chub.
. w',I .~.:: Rio Grande chub.
L" I.i!.. Chihuahua chub (2 populations)l
';;;,].,':1; 1.!jL Yaqui chub
f..,:.... , Woundfin
.,.., . Bea~tiful ~hiner
!l' .. .'}, Family Cyprin6dontidae
" ;, ';." ( Comanche Springs pupfish
,.. Leon Springs pupfish
V' ','i"/ Desert pupfish
: '\' .... Family Poeciliidae
. ," i h, Gila topminnow
Big Bend gambusia .

IE - Endangered
T .... Threatened j;- ,; I
p. ~ Proposed for listing in Federal Register
C.... Candidate for future listing
2Editors Note: Not as yet recognized by the Committee on Names of Fishes, American Fisheries Society.
lOne from the Mimbres River, New Mexico, and one from the Rio Piedras Verde, Chihuahua, Mexico.
.Held temporarily for hybridization studies only.

!) -; .,i

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t.:'~':;;t~ 1;;'illn'::1

, !.,
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fish in captivity far exceeded their numbers in the
wild, but still no fish were re-stocked.
This apprehension was first overcome in 1980,
when 35,000 Yaqui chub (Gila purpurea) were
stocked on private property (San Bernardino Ranch)
in southeastern Arizona. In the following year
(1981), the Arizona Department of Game and
Fish (AG&F) signed a Memorandum of Under-
standing (MOU) with the FWS to reintroduce
razorback suckers (Xyrauchen texanus) into the
Gila River and its tributaries, in lieu of listing the
species under the ESA. Under that MOU, the
FWS agreed not to propose razorback sucker for
listing until success of the restocking effort could
be determined, estimated conservatively at 10
years. By 1985, more than 6 million fry and 296,000
'I fingerling razorback suckers had been stocked in
Arizona waters. With reintroduction activities un-
der way in Arizona, a degree of confidence and
mutual trust began to develop among several of
the involved agencies towards reintroducing native
'~sh species.
h(Th~, next significant step in the reintroduction

. Sdentilic nlme

Federal 1.I.USI

Xyrauchen texanus

C

Ptychocheillls lucius
Gila elegans
Gila cypha
Gila robusta
Gila imermedia
Gila ditaenia
Gila pandora
Gila nigrescens
Gila purpurea
PJagopterlls argemissimus
NOlropis formosus

E
E
E

~

T
E
E
T

Cyprinodon elegans
Cyprinodon bovinlls
Cyprinodon macularius

E
E
P

Poeciliopsis occidemalis
Gambllsia gaigei

E
E

program was another MOU signed by the USDA
Forest Service (FS), AG&F, and the FWS, to re-
stock the endangered Gila topminnow (Poeciliop-
sis occidentlllis) into its historic range on Forest
Service lands in Arizona. Although several conces-
sions to circumvent the ESA were necessary (i.e.,
no critical habitat designation and no curtailment
of existing land use practices in the re-inlr9duc~ion
areas), in order to get this MOU signed, the
precedent for re-introduction of listed species was
established. In June, 1982, more than 70 isolated
aquatic habitats in Arizona were stocked with Gila
topminnows, representing the first phase of a I" ,
program that could result in down-listing the
species to threatened status by 1987 and complete
de-listing by 1989. These dates are probably op-
timistic, but the precedent this action sets engen-
ders optimistic predictions. It should be noted that
the Gila topminnow re-introduction effort may
have been the most intensive action ever attempted
for the recovery of an endangered species, and
that more than 100 separate re-introductions have
now taken place.