Endangered Fish Return to Native Waters
WICKENBURG, AZ — July 3, 2007 — About 50 endangered woundfin fish returned to native waters yesterday, courtesy of biologists' hard work and an interstate truck ride in special holding tanks.
Biologists from the Arizona Game and Fish Department and The Nature Conservancy moved the woundfin from Game and Fish's Bubbling Ponds Hatchery near Sedona and transported them for release to the Hassayampa River in Wickenburg.
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Biologists return woundfin © AZGFD |
"The woundfin was one of the first aquatic species in the nation to be federally listed as endangered," says Chris Cantrell, a biologist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department. "This transplant was a coordinated effort between the Arizona Game and Fish Department and The Nature Conservancy to create new populations of woundfin within their historic range in Arizona."
Woundfin are now only found in the Virgin River in northwest Arizona and parts of Utah and Nevada. Habitat degradation, human changes to the environment and the introduction of competing exotic fish species in Arizona have caused the woundfin's habitat and populations to shrink. Several organizations have been involved in breeding more of the fish so that new areas can be populated. For this transplant, the fish were taken from the Game and Fish Department's Bubbling Ponds Hatchery. The fish were bred in New Mexico, spawned from stock that originally came from wild woundfin from the Virgin River, before making their way to Bubbling Ponds. The Nature Conservancy restored the habitat in the release area, making it once again suitable for woundfin.
"Biologists netted 50 woundfin from the hatchery yesterday morning," says Marty Lawrence, operations manager for The Nature Conservancy's Hassayampa River Preserve. "The fish were placed in special holding tanks and transported by truck to the Hassayampa River, where biologists spent several hours tempering the water in the tanks to that of the new site before releasing them."
Historically, the woundfin lived in the Colorado and Gila river basins in Arizona, Nevada and Utah. It is a 2- to 3-inch long scaleless fish that is silver with a long snout and slender body.
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