Status and Conservation of the Rio Grande Silvery Minnow, Hybognathus amarus

Bestgen, Kevin R.; Platania, Steven P.

doi:10.2307/3671925

Cited by 117 publications

(63 citation statements)

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“…and Gambusia spp. Other species with similar reproductive strategies have been extirpated from the lower Pecos including the federally endangered Hybognathus amarus (Bestgen & Platania 1991). This allowed for rapid recolonisation of the upstream reach.…”

Section: Temporal Variation In Fish Assemblagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Salinity and geomorphology drive long‐term changes to local and regional fish assemblage attributes in the lower Pecos River, Texas

Cheek

Taylor²

2015

Ecology of Freshwater Fish

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River systems throughout arid regions worldwide have been heavily impacted by human activities, resulting in long-term ecological consequences. The lower Pecos River in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas is no exception, having undergone anthropogenic changes that include decreased flow, elevated salinity, species loss and species invasion. We compared historical and contemporary fish assemblage attributes from the Pecos River at local (site-specific) and regional (Trans-Pecos region) scales across a 24-year time period. Fish assemblage data were collected in October 1987 and 2011, by seining at 15 sites spanning 430 km of the river in Texas. Additionally, we examined contemporary environmental conditions to determine species-environment relationships. We found that fish assemblages were significantly different between time periods, likely due to increased salinisation in the upper half of the study region. Decreased species richness, species replacement and increases in euryhaline species were documented in the upstream sites. Freshwater springs lower the salinity and maintain flows in the downstream reach, allowing for maintenance of the native fish fauna. Careful management of regional aquifers, irrigation practices and petroleum waste water will be necessary for protecting biodiversity and environmental flows in the lower Pecos River.

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Section: Temporal Variation In Fish Assemblagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Salinity and geomorphology drive long‐term changes to local and regional fish assemblage attributes in the lower Pecos River, Texas

Cheek

Taylor²

2015

Ecology of Freshwater Fish

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“…Historically, the species occurred from northern New Mexico (Cope and Yarrow, 1875) to near Brownsville, Texas (Figure 1; Girard, 1856) and was the most abundant species at many locations (Bestgen and Platania, 1991). By the late 1960s, the species was nearly extirpated from the Pecos River of New Mexico.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecology of the Rio Grande Silvery Minnow (Cyprinidae: Hybognathus amarus) Inferred from Specimens Collected in 1874

Cowley

Shirey

Hatch

2006

Reviews in Fisheries Science

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The Rio Grande silvery minnow (Hybognathus amarus) was historically an abundant and widespread species in the Rio Grande Basin. Its decline to endangered status had many probable causes and has spanned more than a century. Specimens of H. amarus collected in July 1874 at San Ildefonso, near Santa Fe, New Mexico, allowed a retrospective assessment of the ecology and morphology of the species and the environmental conditions of the Rio Grande in areas foraged by these minnows. Analysis of diatoms from the gut showed that H. amarus foraged mainly in nutrient-enriched areas on mud substrates in 1874 and to lesser extents on periphyton associated with plant, sand, and rock substrates. Gut contents included a considerable amount of fine-grained sediment and a wide variety of organic materials including detritus, pine pollen, cyanobacteria, algae, and diatoms. Scale annuli showed that H. amarus was once a relatively long-lived minnow; all age classes from 1 to 5 were present in 1874. The presence of multiple individuals of several ages suggested that annual survival rates were high historically and that the species may be iteroparous, rather than short-lived and semelparous as widely held. The morphology of H. amarus from a captive stock in 2003 was consistent with the morphology of the 1874 specimens.

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“…Swimming performance of commercially important or relatively large-bodied species, such as salmonids, has been reasonably well documented because of negative effects of dams on passage. Only recently has it been recognized that low-head diversion dams may negatively affect distribution and abundance of small-bodied fishes, particularly those that require relatively long and uninterrupted reaches to complete their life history in arid-land streams of western North America (Cross et al 1985;Bestgen and Platania 1991;Winston et al 1991;Dudley and Platania 2007). Unobstructed dispersal routes are particularly important for several Great Plains stream fishes that produce semibuoyant eggs and larvae that drift long distances downstream (Moore 1944;Cross et al 1985;Fausch and Bestgen 1997;Platania and Altenbach 1998).…”

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confidence: 99%

Swimming Performance and Fishway Model Passage Success of Rio Grande Silvery Minnow

et al. 2010

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We used a swim chamber, flume, and large-scale fishway models to assess the swimming performance, behavior, and passage success of endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow Hybognathus amarus. Field-captured silvery minnow (53-88 mm total length) swam 114-118 cm/s (i.e., up to 20.9 body lengths/s) in a swim chamber in water temperatures of 15, 19, and 238C. The relationship between time to fatigue and water velocity showed that endurance declined sharply at velocities above 60 cm/s, a threshold that is consistent with critical swimming speed estimates and may represent a transition from aerobic to anaerobic metabolism. Water temperature and fish length were positively correlated with swimming performance. At water velocities of 60 cm/s and less, silvery minnow routinely swam the equivalent of 50 km (125 km maximum) in a swim chamber in less than 72 h. The proportions of silvery minnow that successfully ascended a flume over sand, gravel, or cobble substrate declined as water velocity increased to 53 cm/s. Passage times increased at higher water velocities and at a faster rate over sand substrate because fish were stationary for longer periods over the lower-velocity boundary layers created by gravel and cobble at all velocities. Dualvertical-slot fishway passage was 52% in a less turbulent flow of 78 cm/s; passage was 8% at a faster, more turbulent flow of 87 cm/s. Conversely, 75% of silvery minnow ascended a rock channel fishway with a holding pool present and a 1% hydraulic gradient in low (58-cm/s) and high (83-cm/s) mean flow velocities. Differences in willingness to swim, longer test duration, and the mosaic of water velocities created by the bed roughness elements may explain the higher silvery minnow passage success in the rock channel. Predictive swimming fatigue relationships, together with fish length and water temperature, may guide decisions regarding fishway lengths and velocities so as to permit passage of Rio Grande silvery minnow.

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Status and Conservation of the Rio Grande Silvery Minnow, Hybognathus amarus

Cited by 117 publications

References 0 publications

Salinity and geomorphology drive long‐term changes to local and regional fish assemblage attributes in the lower Pecos River, Texas

Salinity and geomorphology drive long‐term changes to local and regional fish assemblage attributes in the lower Pecos River, Texas

Ecology of the Rio Grande Silvery Minnow (Cyprinidae: Hybognathus amarus) Inferred from Specimens Collected in 1874

Swimming Performance and Fishway Model Passage Success of Rio Grande Silvery Minnow

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