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"Norman D. Edelen, Jr. and Lisa A. Hayashi" <normane at hevanet_com>: NANFA--P. Unmack: NANFA fish collecting report NV/AZ
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forwarded from the NANFA email list..........
From: peter.unmack at ASU_Edu
To: Norman Jr. Edelen <normane at hevanet_com>
Subject: NANFA fish collecting report NV/AZ
Date: Monday, March 24, 1997 7:19 PM
G'day folks
Last weekend we had our conservation weekend in southern Nevada. First
stop was the Virgin River where we were trying to monitor reintroduced
woundfin (Plagopterus argentissimus) populations with Jim Heinrich from
Nevada Division of Wildlife. Native fish were not
very common, a few flannelmouth suckers (Catostomus latipinnis), desert
suckers (Pantosteus clarki), 2 Virgin chubs (Gila seminuda), 1 speckled
dace (Rhinichthys osculus), and around 20 woundfin. Exotics included one
carp and literally thousands of red shiners (Cyprinella lutrensis). Next
day we headed to a local park for some hard labor adding rocks to a half
mile of artificial stream being developed for native fish conservation.
>From here we headed to Ash Meadows for a day and a half. We removed all
the vegetation from two springs to try to open up pupfish habitat and
reduce it for the exotic species there. We also removed around a
thousand exotic fish, crayfish and bullfrogs. During a 6 month project
there I have removed over 8000 exotics in 5-6 trips. Pupfish numbers
appear
to be improving, especially juveniles. Of course, one needs to keep
removing exotics for the effect to continue. All collecting was done in
conjunction with USFWS staff on the refuge. We also collected a bunch of
shortfinned mollies and convict sicklids from Roger's Springs by Lake Mead.
The day after returning from that trip it was off with my ichthyology lab
to Lake Mohave to collect razorback suckers (Xyrauchen texanus) as a part
of a larger annual sampling effort to monitor the population. It is
pretty impressive to able to view and hold a fish that is over 40 years
old that few folks get to experience. We also caught a single bonytail
chub (Gila elegans), probably the most endangered fish in the country.
It was probably a hatchery release (they have to check the tag number).
Exotics were also abundant including carp, largemouth bass, bluegill,
striped bass, channel catfish, and rainbow trout. On the way up to the
lake we collected in three streams in the Bill Williams drainage, a
tributary to the Colorado River in AZ. The Santa Maria River had
abundant
longfinned dace (Agosia chrysogaster) and a single redshiner and a few
bluegills. Burro Creek only contained red shiners and bluegills. Big
Sandy River only had Agosia. All in all a busy week of activity that was
great fun.
Keep your anal fins clean
Peter J Unmack peter.unmack at asu_edu
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DESERT FISHES RULE: To boldly thrive where no other fish can make it!
Australian desert fishes pages at ozdesertfish.base.org (don't forget to
visit the Desert Fishes Council pages too)
Native Fish Australia pages at nfa.base.org (under construction)
North American Native Fishes Association at www.nanfa.org
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