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Management of the Owens Pupfish, Cyprinodon Radiosus, in Mono County, California

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Management of the Owens Pupfish, Cyprinodon Radiosus, in Mono County, California Management of the Owens Pupfish, Cyprinodon radiosus, in Mono County, California ROBERT RUSH MILLER Museum o/ Zoology, The University o/ Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 EDWIN P. PISTER Cali/ornla Department o/ Fish and Game Bishop, Cali/ornia 93514 ABSTRACT The Owenspupfish, Cyprinodon radiosus Miller, is restrictedto OwensValley along the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada Range of California. When it was describedin 1948 it was thought to be extinct. Its depletion,rediscovery, and reestablishmentin the OwensValley Native Fish Sanctuary,a cooperativeundertaking between the City of Los Angelesand the California Depart- ment of Fish and Game, are described.Two other refugesin OwensValley are completedor underconstruction, and the threeadditional native fishes of this valleywill be establishedin one of these. Such conservationactivity reflects the growing concern of the scientific community and the public over the threat to native fishes. INTRODUCTION feed Fish Slough,Mono County,about 10 to The Owenspupfish (Figure 1), Cyprinodon 12 milesnorth of Bishop(Figure 2). In the radiosusMiller (1948), a memberof the killi- early part of the century,the Owenspupfish rishfamily Cyprinodontidae,is confinedto the wasabundant in the springs,shallow sloughs, OwensRiver drainagein OwensValley, Cali- swamps,irrigation ditchesand bog pastures fornia. It is one of the severalspecies of this alongand near Owens River. Mosquitoeswere genusthat inhabit springsand creeksof the then relativelyuncommon, but as the species desertregion in easternCalifornia and south- became scarce these insectsbecame pests western Nevada. A number of these fishes are (Miller, 1948: 93). now threatened with extinction and the Owens DEPLETION pupfishwas recentlyclassified as a rare and endangeredspecies (U.S. Dept. Int., 1968: With the establishment of exotic fishes in F-26; Miller, 1969a). OwensValley and the disappearance or marked OwensValley is without outlet and lies at reductionof marshyareas due to removalof the base of the eastern escarpmentof the much of the water supply through the Los Sierra Nevada. In the first generaltreatment Angelesaqueduct (Heinly, 1910), Cyprinodon of the fishesof this valley, Snyder (1917) radiosusrapidly declined. In 1934, Carl L. referred this speciesto the desert pupfish, Hubbsfound only a few shallow,fishless pools Cyprinodonmacularius Baird and Girard,but alongthe big bend of OwensRiver northeast subsequentlyit was shown that C. macularius of Bishopwhere Kennedy,19 years earlier, livesin Californiaonly in the SaltonSea basin had observedbig schoolsof this pupfishnear (Miller, 1943). the margin of a large rule swampthat lay Just prior to Snyder's paper, Kennedy betweenLaws and Bishop.Neither in the river (1916) describedthe habitat,abundance, and near Laws nor at other localities between feedinghabits of the Owenspupfish, noting Bishopand Independencedid the Hubbsparty that "... it canprobably be usedto advantage find anypupfish. At that timethe speciesdid in combatingthe mosquitoin thoseparts of survivein at least two places,for the Mono- the state where theseinsects are a pest about Inyo surveyof the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries permanentfresh-water marshes." Evidently its found it to be abundantin Fish Sloughin natural rangewas from near Lone Pine, Inyo "wide,flat, reedybasins, mostly in water only County,northward to the sourcesprings that about3 to 6 inchesdeep and very warm," and 5O2 MILLER AND PISTER--MANAGEMENT OF OWENS PUPFISH 503 F•cuRœ1.--Cyp•inodon radiosus(UMMZ 189879),male above (33.5 mm S.L.), female below (36.0 mm S.L.). From BLM Spring, on E. side of Fish Slough, Mono Co., California, collected June 29, 1970. The speciesat- tains a maximum size here of about 60 mm, total length •.50 mm S.L.). common in a spring or series of springs the speciesin numbersadequate for their re- (Morton'sSlough?) near OwensRiver eastof search.No pupfishwere observedby them at Independence!.Miller, 1948: 94•. any distancebelow the spring sources,how- In July, 1937, a rather hurried checkof the ever. lower and middle parts of Fish Slough re- On August31 and September1. 1942, not a vealedprincipally carp (Cyprinuscarpioi and singlepupfish was found by Miller and party largemouthbass ( Micropterussalmoides • . the in any of the three springsin Fish Slough latter having been planted in OwensValley where they had previously lived. Their around 1913 (Kennedy, 1916: 1801; a few complete disappearancefrom these waters suckers and minnows were also seen, but no within three years may be attributed chiefly pupfish(Miller, 1948: 941. In the upperpart to direct predation by largemouthbass, a of Fish Slough,in 1937,Cyprinodon radiosus speciesnot notedin any of the springsduring was still rather common at the head of the 1937-1940. Also, in contrastto earlier years. westernmostspring and a few individualswere there were fewer minnows and suckers in these observedin the outflowof the mostnortherly sprin• in 1942 and within about the next spring I Figure2. sta. 1 I. In 1937. only exotic decadethey too virtually disappeared.Con- fisheswere seinedin the many valley sloughs siderablelocal inquiry at Bishopin 1942 and betweenIndependence and Big Pine. some investigationof waters between Fish In July, 1938, the westernmostspring of Sloughand Big Pine failed to rexrealany pup- Fish Sloughstill supportedan adequatepop- fish. Consequently,when the specieswas ulation and in April. 1939, Sumner and Sar- describedsix yearslater it was thoughtto be gent(1940: 46-47) hadno difficultycollecting extinct. 504 TRANS. AMER. FISH. SOC., 1971, 1YO.3 FIGURE2.•Aerial view of Fish Slough from north end looking •utheast, April 29, 19•. 1, nor•e•ost spring; 2, the two westerlysprings, comprising the Owens Valley Native Fish Sanctua•; 3, "Rediscove• Pools," where pupfish were taken in 1956 and 19•; 4, BLM Spring. REDISCOVERY Departmentof Fish and Game,spent two days In June or July 1956, W. M. Richardson in the Fish Slougharea searchingfor Cyprino- and Ralph V. Beck of the California Depart- don radiosus. In the northernmostspring and ment of Fish and Game, using a small seine, its outflowthey found only mosquitofishand collecteda few Owenspupfish from shallow largemouthbass and saw, in the springhole, ponds200 to 300 feet westof the unimproved a "cyprinid2 to 6 incheslong" (perhapssome roadthat traverses the eastside of Fish Slough, were Catostomus,seen in 1964). Fish were approximately1.5 milessouth of the northern- generally scarce. In the two northwestern mostspring. The pondslay east of the main springsfeeding Fish Slough,they found only channelof the Sloughat this point and were mosquitofish.They did not relocatethe pop- no morethan a foot deep. They alsocontained ulationsampled by Richardsonand Beck. a chub,carp, sucker, small bullheads, mosquito- On July 10, 1964, Hubbs,Miller, Pisterand fish,and juvenile largemouth bass. About one party "rediscovered"the populationof Owens pupfish was obtainedper three seine hauls. pupfishthat had been sampledin 1956. It The fish were kept alive in an aquarium for inhabited an elongatepool maintainedby awhile, and Mr. Richardsonwas impressed overflowof coolwater from the adjacentmain, with their pugnacity,but sincehe did not know spring-fedditch, 2.2 milesby jeep road south that the specieswas thought to be extinct,they of the northernmostspring of Fish Slough weresubsequently discarded. (Figure 2, sta. 3; TSS, R32E, near 1NEcorner In early April, 1963, Robert K. Liu, E. P. of sec.25•see U.S. GeologicalSurvey Bishop Pister and other personnelof the California Quadrangle, 15-minute series, 1949). The MILLER AND PISTER--MANAGEMENT OF OWENS PUPFISH 505 " , I, •" •, , / . F[cu• &--Typical pupfishhabitat--wide, flat, open,shallow, marshy pools•at "Re•scove• Pools,"July 10, 19•. From a Kodachrometransparency. pool of very clearwater wasabout 100 )ards sexes and sometimes it formed a bilateral long, varied from 15 to 40 feet in width, and melanism (on caudal peduncleand base of therewas dense Chara covering the firm, mud caudal fin). The caudal fins of the showiest bottom; scatteredstands of Scirpusgrew in breedingmales have a narrow,dusky to black the shallowwater (2 to 6 inchesdeep) and terminal border, which was quickly lost on the shorewas an open marshyswamp and preservationor as the malesceased reproduc- meadow(Figure 3). Onlya slightcurrent was tive or aggressivebehavior. Hence, it is not perceptibleat the end nearestthe ditch. The surprisingthat this specieswas describedas air was 91 F and the water 92 F at 3 PM. lacking the terminal black border on the Cyprinodonradiosus had an estimatedpopula- caudal fin that characterizes the male of the tion of perhaps200 individuals,comprising genus Cyprinodon. (The occurrenceof this juvenilesto largeadults and includingfish in feature in C. radiosus was first noted and breedingcolors. photographedby RobertK. Liu in 1964.) At In life. the brightest(breeding) males have the height of nuptial or aggressivebehavior thedorsal fin pinkishtan to orangeand either the broad vertical bars on the side become black-borderedor not. The analfin is pinkish intensified and take on a brilliant metallic blue tan to chalky blue or turquoise,sometimes color: the first bar (shorter than the second) with a black border. In bright sunshineone lies just behindthe head and is followedby can see a blue to turquoisepredorsal stripe. about five bars of which the longest and and the whole body may be brilliant blue broadestare the secondand third. They are under such favorablelight conditions.No• not narrowedventrally,
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