Endangered Species Bulletin

Members
Login
Join Now!
Membership Info

Sections
Home
Articles
The Darter - Newsletter
NFC Forum
NFC TV
Photo Gallery
NFC Store
Joe Tomelleri Store

Grants & Programs
Adopt a Tank
Blue Pike
Exotics Fish Tourny
Grant History
Sustainable Aquaculture
Web Fund

May/June 2000

Pecos Pupfish (Cyprinodon pecosensis) Listing Proposal Withdrawn

In 1998, the Service proposed to list the Pecos pupfish, a small fish native to the Pecos River, its tributaries, and nearby waters in New Mexico and Texas, as an endangered species. The threats cited in the proposal were 1) habitat alteration resulting from dams, water diversions, and excessive groundwater pumping, and 2) hybridization with a non-native fish species, the sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus), which anglers introduced into the pupfish's habitat in the 1980s as a baitfish. Since publication of the listing proposal, the Service and other federal and state resource management agencies have executed a Conservation Agreement that addresses the threats to the pupfish and establishes a plan to restore the species to a viable status. For that reason, the Service published a notice in the March 17, 2000, Federal Register withdrawing the listing proposal.