Gila topminnow

Last updated

Gila topminnow
Gila topminnow Poeciliopsis occidentalis.jpg
Status TNC G3.svg
Vulnerable  (NatureServe) [2]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cyprinodontiformes
Family: Poeciliidae
Genus: Poeciliopsis
Species:
P. occidentalis
Binomial name
Poeciliopsis occidentalis
Synonyms [3]

Heterandria occidentalisS.F. Baird & Girard, 1853

The Gila topminnow or charalito (Poeciliopsis occidentalis) is a species of fish in the family Poeciliidae. It is found in Mexico and the United States.

Contents

Description

The Gila topminnow has an elongated curved body. Males are rarely over 25 mm (0.98 in) and they are smaller than females, which can sometimes be 50 mm (2.0 in). [4] The belly is often white with darker body above, has scales with dark outlines, and a lateral dark band on the side.

Distribution

School of topminnows--taken at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson GilaTopminnow.jpg
School of topminnows—taken at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson

Gila topminnow once occupied in the Gila River drainage in Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. Currently, they are known to be in Gila River drainage in Arizona and Mexico, having been extirpated from New Mexico due to the introduction of Gambusia affinis .

Biology

Gila topminnow was once the most common fish found in the Gila River drainage. They are fertilized internally; reproduction season usually is from April to November. The female gives birth from 10–15 young per brood. These young brood will reach maturity from a weeks to several months. Gila topminnow are omnivorous, and eat food such as detritus and amphipod crustaceans; but feed mostly on aquatic insect larvae, especially mosquitos.

Habitat

This species of fish prefers to live in shallow warm water in headwater springs. They can survive in water with temperature ranging from near freezing to near 100 °F (38 °C). They can also live in water with a wide range of pH from 6.6 – 8.9 and salinity from fresh water to sea water. [5]

Conservation

Gila topminnow are endangered due to predation and competition from the introduced mosquitofish. Threats also come from continued habitat loss due to water development, habitat degradation due to erosion from roads and drought. Gila topminnow from Sharp Spring are currently being held and bred at Dexter National Fish Hatchery & Technology Center at Dexter, New Mexico, for re-introduction to wild habitats. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gila trout</span> Species of fish

The Gila trout is a species of salmonid, related to the rainbow trout, native to the Southwest United States. Prior to 2006 the Gila trout was federally listed as endangered. In July 2006, after much work by the Game and Fish departments in New Mexico and Arizona, the US Forest Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Gila trout was down-listed to threatened, with a special provision called a "4d rule" that will allow limited sport fishing – for the first time in nearly half a century. By the time the Gila trout was closed to fishing in the 1950s, its numbers and range were so depleted and so reduced this copper-colored trout simply wasn't very accessible to anglers. As of 2011 there is fishing in both states for this fish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roundtail chub</span> Species of fish

The roundtail chub is a cyprinid fish in the genus Gila, of southwestern North America. It is native to the Colorado River drainage basin, including the Gila River and other tributaries, and in several other rivers. It is part of the "robusta complex", which includes the Gila robusta robusta, G.r. grahami, and G.r. seminuda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woundfin</span> Species of fish

The woundfin is a species of minnow endemic to the Virgin River of the southwestern United States. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Plagopterus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bonytail chub</span> Species of fish

The bonytail chub or bonytail is a cyprinid freshwater fish native to the Colorado River basin of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in the southwestern United States; it has been extirpated from the part of the basin in Mexico. It was once abundant and widespread in the basin, its numbers and range have declined to the point where it has been listed as endangered since 1980 (ESA) and 1986 (IUCN), a fate shared by the other large Colorado basin endemic fish species like the Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, and razorback sucker. It is now the rarest of the endemic big-river fishes of the Colorado River. There are 20 species in the genus Gila, seven of which are found in Arizona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonora chub</span> Species of fish

The Sonora chub is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae. It is found in Mexico and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gila chub</span> Species of fish

The Gila chub is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae. It is found in Mexico and the United States. The Gila chub is closely related to the roundtail chub. This species is commonly found in association with the Gila topminnow, the desert and Sonora sucker, and the longfin and speckled dace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackstripe topminnow</span> Species of fish

The blackstripe topminnow, Fundulus notatus, is a small freshwater fish in the family Fundulidae, found in central North America.

Poeciliopsis monacha, or the headwater livebearer, is a species of freshwater fish in the family Poeciliidae. It is endemic to Mexico.

<i>Poeciliopsis</i> Genus of fishes

Poeciliopsis is a genus of poeciliid fishes that primarily are native to Mexico and Central America. The only exceptions are P. turrubarensis where the range extends into Colombia, and P. occidentalis where the range extends into Arizona and New Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden topminnow</span> Species of fish

The golden topminnow is a fish of the genus Fundulus and is a United States native fish mostly distributed throughout the southeast, ranging from Kentucky and Ohio south into Florida. Although it has such a wide distribution throughout the south, the habitats and micro-habitats that it occupies do not differ much from one area of distribution to others. The golden topminnow is a small surface feeding fish that tends to reproduce late in the spring season and on into the early parts of the summer, and although the fry reach maturity fairly quickly the longevity of the golden topminnow is quite short. Because the golden topminnow is lower in the trophic level and is a small fish, it primarily feeds on small and/or drifting organisms at, or near the surface of, vegetated areas. This particular topminnow is not currently listed as an endangered species, nor does it have any particular type of management plan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lined topminnow</span> Species of fish

The lined topminnow is a small fish in the genus Fundulus which is found in swamps and backwaters from southern Virginia to Lake Okeechobee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie Canyon National Wildlife Refuge</span> Protected area in Arizona, US

Leslie Canyon National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States located in Arizona. The 2,770-acre (11.2 km2) refuge was established in 1988 to protect habitat for the endangered Yaqui Chub and Yaqui Topminnow. The refuge also protects a rare velvet ash-cottonwood-black walnut gallery forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge</span> Protected area in Cochise County, ArIzona

The San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge is located on the U.S.-Mexico border in Cochise County, Arizona. Situated at 3,720 to 3,920 feet (1,130–1,190 m) elevation in the bottom of a wide valley, the refuge encompasses a portion of the headwaters of the Yaqui River, which drains primarily western Chihuahua and eastern Sonora, Mexico. The 2,309-acre (9.34 km2) ranch was acquired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1982 to protect the water resources and provide habitat for endangered native fishes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Headwater chub</span> Species of fish

The headwater chub is a species of fish in the family Cyprinidae. It is found in Arizona and New Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonora sucker</span> Species of fish

The Sonora Sucker, Catostomus insignis, is a medium-sized catostomid fish with 16 other species in the genus scattered throughout North America. This species is remarkably similar in appearance to the Yaqui Sucker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonoyta pupfish</span> Species of fish

The Sonoyta pupfish or Quitobaquito pupfish is an endangered species of pupfish from Sonora in Mexico and Arizona in the United States.

<i>Poeciliopsis sonoriensis</i> Species of fish

The Yaqui topminnow is a species of fish in the family Poeciliidae. Its scientific name is Poeciliopsis sonoriensis; it is also sometimes considered a subspecies of Poeciliopsis occidentalis as P. o. sonoriensis. This fish is native to Mexico and the United States, with a few native and introduced populations persisting in Arizona in the United States, and a number of populations still extant in northern Sonora, Mexico.

<i>Fundulus dispar</i> Species of fish

The Starhead topminnow is a native United States species that ranges from the Ouachita River drainage in Louisiana, the Big Black river in Mississippi, and extends northward into the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan basins to the southern Michigan and southern Wisconsin areas. The Starhead topminnow is endangered due to the removal of aquatic vegetation and the continued development of land that infringes on its habitat.

The blackspotted topminnow, Fundulus olivaceus, is a species of fish in the family Fundulidae: the topminnows and North American killifishes. It is native to the south-central United States, where it is known from the drainages of the Mississippi River from Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico and as far west as Galveston Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plains topminnow</span> Species of fish

The plains topminnow is a species of freshwater topminnow found in North America. The fish has a small range within the United States of America which consists of two major populations.

References

  1. Matamoros, W.A. (2020) [amended version of 2019 assessment]. "Poeciliopsis occidentalis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2020: e.T15350832A176961098. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T15350832A176961098.en . Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  2. "Poeciliopsis occidentalis". NatureServe Explorer. NatureServe. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  3. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Poeciliopsis occidentalis". FishBase . August 2019 version.
  4. Minckley, W.L. (1973). Fishes of Arizona. Phoenix: Arizona Game and Fish Department. pp. 199–202.
  5. 1 2 David A. Weedman (1998). "Gila topminnow, Poeciliopsis occidentalis occidentalis, Revised Recovery plan" (PDF). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region II.