LAS VEGAS (AP) — A twice-yearly count found what U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials are calling a healthy population jump for a tiny endangered fish found only in streams and springs about 60 miles north of Las Vegas.
A statement credited expanded habitat protection and the eradication of invasive species in the Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge, and said the species called the Moapa dace was getting what a statement labeled “a fighting chance” at survival.
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Spokesman Dan Balduini said snorkeling divers in August counted 1,181 of the finger-length fish with a distinctive black tail spot — up more than 65 percent from the 713 fish seen a year earlier and a larger increase from the 654 fish found in February.
It was the first time since an unexplained die-off left just 473 fish in 2007 that the Moapa dace population has topped 1,000. Officials say the Moapa dace still has a long way to go before it can be considered safe from extinction.
“This milestone could not have been reached without the focus and coordinated efforts of everyone involved,” said Ted Koch, Nevada state supervisor for the federal agency.
“We know that recovery of the species is still a long way off,” Koch added.
The Moapa dace has been under federal protection for more than 40 years. It is expected to remain on the endangered species list until at least 75 percent of its historical habitat has been restored and its population is holding steady at 6,000 adult fish.
The fish live only in thermal springs and streams that form the headwaters of the Muddy River, which flows to the Colorado River at Lake Mead. Efforts to raise the fish in captivity have been unsuccessful.
In the mid-1990s, non-native mollies and blue tilapia decimated the Moapa dace population and other native fish in the Muddy River. The Nevada Division of Wildlife has been working to eliminate the non-native species.
