| Spikedace | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Spikedace, Meda fulgida | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cypriniformes |
| Family: | Cyprinidae |
| Subfamily: | Leuciscinae |
| Clade: | Plagopterinae |
| Genus: | Meda Girard, 1856 |
| Species: | M. fulgida |
| Binomial name | |
| Meda fulgida Girard, 1856 | |
The spikedace (Meda fulgida) is an endangered species of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae. It is found in Arizona and New Mexico in the United States. It lives in fast-moving streams.
The maximum length of the spikedace rarely exceeds 7.5 cm. [2] It usually has a slender body, with a somewhat compressed front, and is strongly compressed at the caudal peduncle, with a fairly pointed snout and contains a slightly subterminal mouth with large eyes. The dorsal fin origin is behind the pelvic fin origin. The scales are present only as small, deeply embedded plates. The first spinous ray of the dorsal fin is the strongest and most sharp-pointed. The spikedace has seven dorsal fin-rays and typically 9 anal fin-rays. The spikedace skin is olive-gray to light brown above, with a brilliant silver side, often with blue reflections, and with black specks and blotches on the back and upper side. The breeding male has a spectacular, bright, brassy yellow head and fins. [3]
Historically, the M. fulgida was common and locally abundant throughout the upper Gila River basin of Arizona and New Mexico. In Arizona, this included the Agua Fria, San Pedro, and San Francisco River systems, and the Gila, Salt and Verde Rivers and major tributaries upstream of present-day Phoenix. In New Mexico, it included San Francisco River, Gila River, and the East, Middle and West Forks of the Gila.
Presently, the species is found in Aravaipa Creek, a tributary of the San Pedro River, Eagle Creek, and the upper Verde River system in Arizona, and the upper Gila River system in New Mexico. [4]
The spikedace occupies midwater habitats of runs and pools, [5] and prefers moving in water less than 1 m deep and in a current of 0.3-0.6 m/s. The spikedace concentrates in the downstream ends of rivers, although many have been collected in the upstream portions of shear zones less than 0.33 m deep. In larger streams, the spikedace is found only at the mouth of creeks. [6]
The spikedace was formerly widespread in the Gila basin, but has suffered marked reductions in range in the last few decades. In areas where it still persists, it seems far less abundant now. [7] This species often declines and explodes in numbers. [8] Kirk Young (AGFD Native Fish Diversity Review 1995) reported four populations in Arizona. Paul Marsh [9] believes a population may be found in the White River which has not yet been surveyed.
Activities known to be detrimental to the spikedace are the removal of water from their habitats, stream impoundment, channelization, domestic livestock grazing, timber harvesting, mining, road construction, polluting, and stocking non-native species.
Threats to the species include stream flow depletion; diversion; habitat alteration and competition with non-native crayfishes; and predation by and competition with non-native fishes, especially red shiner.
The loach minnow is a species of freshwater fish. It is a member of the carp family of order Cypriniformes. It occurs in streams and small rivers throughout the Gila River and San Pedro River systems in Arizona, New Mexico, and Sonora; it is now considered extinct in Mexico.
The Gila trout is a species of salmonid, related to the rainbow, 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. This possibility is distinct: there may be no one alive today that has legally angled a pure Gila trout from its native waters. 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.
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.
The humpback chub is a federally protected fish that lived originally in fast waters of the Colorado River system in the United States. This species takes its name from the prominent hump between the head and dorsal fin, which is thought to direct the flow of water over the body and help maintain body position in the swift currents of the Colorado. The body is almost entirely scaleless, retaining only about 80 mid-lateral scales along the lateral line. The fish is very streamlined, with a thin caudal peduncle and a deeply forked tail. The back is a light olive gray, the sides silver, and the belly white. The dorsal fin usually has nine rays, and the anal fin 10 or more. Maximum recorded length is 38 cm.
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.
The Yaqui sucker is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Catostomidae. It is found the Aridoamerica region of northern Mexico and south-western United States. Catostomus bernardini or Yaqui sucker belongs to the family Catostomidae. The Yaqui sucker is related to the Sonora sucker and could possibly be a subspecies of the Gila sucker.
The beautiful shiner is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae. It is found in Mexico and Arizona and New Mexico in the United States. It is one of 22 species of Cyprinella found in North America.
The Sonora 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 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.
The Yaqui chub is a species of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae. It is found in northern Mexico and the United States. The Yaqui chub is a medium-sized minnow fish that historically occurred in streams of Rios Matape, Sonora, and the Yaqui systems of Sonora, Mexico. It is one of the five species of the genus Gila in Arizona. The Yaqui chub is closely related to G. ditaenia, and G. orcutti ; and shares several physical characteristics with the G. orcutti, but proves different by having a black wedge near the base of the caudal fin.
The Little Colorado spinedace is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae. It is found only in Arizona in the United States.
Ictalurus pricei, the Yaqui catfish, is a species of North American freshwater catfish native to Mexico and Arizona.
The Gila longfin dace is an subspecies of the longfin dace found in Arizona. It is considered the nominate subspecies of the longfin dace.
The Yaqui longfin dace is a small fish of the American Southwest and northern Mexico, and considered a form of the longfin dace. It is often referred to as Agosia chrysogaster sp 1.
The Mexican stoneroller is a species of fish native to Arizona and Texas in the United States and parts of adjacent Mexico. It belongs to the carp family, Cyprinidae. There are three other species in this genus, Campostoma anomalum, Campostoma oligolepis, and Campostoma pauciradii, which are morphologically similar.
The bluehead sucker is endemic to the intermountain Western US. A total of 23 members of the genus Catostomus has been found in North America. C. discobolus and C. yarrowi are two sister species that have very similar Arizona habitats.
The headwater chub is a species of fish in the family Cyprinidae. It is found in Arizona and New Mexico.
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.
The desert sucker or Gila Mountain sucker, is a freshwater species of ray-finned fish in the sucker family, endemic to the Great Basin and the Colorado River Basin in the United States. It inhabits rapids and fast-flowing streams with gravelly bottoms. It is a bi-colored fish with the upper parts olive brown to dark green, and the underparts silvery-tan or yellowish. The head is cylindrical, tapering to a thick-lipped mouth on the underside. This fish can grow to 31 in (79 cm) in Arizona but is generally only about half this size elsewhere. There are three subspecies, found in different river basins, and some authorities allot this species its own genus Pantosteus.
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