Endangered Species Bulletin
May/June 2000
Pecos
Pupfish (Cyprinodon pecosensis) Listing Proposal Withdrawn
In 1998, the Service proposed to list the Pecos pupfish, a small fish
native to the Pecos River, its tributaries, and nearby waters in New Mexico and
Texas, as an endangered species. The threats cited in the proposal were 1)
habitat alteration resulting from dams, water diversions, and excessive
groundwater pumping, and 2) hybridization with a non-native fish species, the
sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus), which anglers introduced into
the pupfish's habitat in the 1980s as a baitfish. Since publication of the
listing proposal, the Service and other federal and state resource management
agencies have executed a Conservation Agreement that addresses the threats to
the pupfish and establishes a plan to restore the species to a viable status.
For that reason, the Service published a notice in the March 17, 2000,
Federal Register withdrawing the listing proposal.