Feds eye rare California fish for endangered species protections
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday proposed listing the Long Valley speckled dace, a rare minnow native to the eastern Sierra Nevada, as an endangered species. The decision stems from a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity seeking to protect the subspecies on the brink of extinction due to various environmental threats. … The dace, found only in the Long Valley volcanic caldera and the upper Owens River watershed in eastern California, once thrived in springs and creeks throughout the upper Owens Basin in Mono County. Today, they struggle to survive in just one spring and a small creek east of Mammoth Lakes.
Related articles and news release:
- Center for Biological Diversity news release: Endangered Species Act protections proposed for rare California fish
- NOAA Fisheries: Climate Change Threatens the Survival and Recovery of Black Abalone
- Fox 5 San Diego: Drought keeps killing off fish by the thousands