Endangered Species Bulletin Is Now an On-Line Publication

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

For over a century, the Fish and Wildlife Service has played a vital role in conserving America’s fishery resources. In 1871, Congress established what is now known as the National Fish Hatchery System. Its origi February 2007 Vol. XXXII No. 1 nal purpose was to provide domestic food fish to replace declining native fish. Over the past 30 years, in the face of increasing demands on aquatic systems and grow ing environmental threats to those systems, the mission of the National Fish Hatchery System expanded and diver sified. In addition to restor ing native fish populations, mitigating for fisheries lost as a result of federal water projects, and providing fish to benefit tribes and national wildlife refuges, the system has a unique responsibility in helping to recover various aquatic species listed under the Endangered Species Act. I N T H I S I S S U E

4 The National Fish Hatchery System

6 A Living Fossil Fights for Survival

10 The Return of a Lake-dwelling Giant

Telephone: (703) 358-2390 Contributors 12 Hatcheries are for More Than Fish Fax: (703) 358-1735 Stuart C. Leon E-mail: [email protected] Jeff M. Finley Craig Springer Apache Trout: Swimming Towards Web site: Richard Shelton 14 www.fws.gov/endangered/bulletin.html Wade Fredenberg Recovery Editor Mark Maskill Michael Bender yvette Converse Tom Brandt Editorial Assistance 16 The Texas Blind Salamander Ann Haas Layout Dennis & Sackett Design, Inc. 18 National Fish Hatchery System Facilities On the Cover Photographed in a clear, shallow stream, this Lahontan cutthroat trout displays its lateral line, which is a sensory organ used to detect movement in the surrounding water. 20 The “Running of the Bulls” at © Michael Graybrook Creston NFH

22 Mora NFH&TC Brings Gila Trout Closer to Recovery

24 Mussels Enjoy the Waters of White Sulphur Springs

26 Hatchery Breeds Wyoming’s Rarest Toad

28 The Science Behind Fish Nutrition

30 Mussels on Road to Recovery at The Endangered Species Bulletin is now an on-line publication. Three electronic editions are Genoa NFH posted each year at www.fws.gov/endangered/bulletin.html, and one print edition of highlights will be published each year. To be notified when a new on-line edition has been posted, you can sign up for our list-serv by clicking on “E-Mail List” on the Bulletin web page. 32 Diet Research for the Shortnose The Bulletin welcomes manuscripts on a wide range of topics related to endangered species. We are particularly interested in news about recovery, habitat conservation plans, and Sturgeon cooperative ventures. Please contact the Editor before preparing a manuscript. We cannot guarantee publication. The Bulletin is reprinted by the University of Michigan as part of its own publication, the 34 Fountain Darter Parasites and Endangered Species UPDATE. To subscribe, write the Endangered Species UPDATE, School of Conservation Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1115; or call (734) 763-3243.

Please send us your comments and ideas! E-mail them to us at [email protected].

ENDANGERED SPECIES BULLETIN FEBRUARy 2007 VOLUME XXXII NO. 1 3 The Return of a by Craig Springer Lake-dwelling Giant

Jay Bigelow holds a male Lahontan maximum size inundated about 8,600 cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki square miles (22,300 sq. kilometers) of henshawi), one about three years old northwestern Nevada and parts of sur- and 16 inches (40 centimeters) long, and rounding states. As glaciers retreated at admires the sunlight reflecting off the the end of the last ice age, an attendant black-spotted silvery-white flanks. It’s climate change dried the basin, and part of a unique brood stock he’s devel Lake Lahontan receded to form the few

oping. Bigelow supervises operations at isolated lakes found today. With gradual

Craig Springer/USFWS the Lahontan National Fish Hatchery in climate change, the Lahontan cutthroat Gardnerville, Nevada, on the banks of trout developed into a fish able to with the Carson River. The hatchery is part stand environmental extremes that today of a larger integrated fisheries com readily kill other fish species. Two forms plex that includes the Nevada Fishery of the Lahontan cutthroat arose: one Resources Office and Marble Bluff Fish accustomed to life in flowing waters; the Passage Facility. These stations coordi other, a lake-dweller. nate programs to plan and implement Pyramid and Walker lakes at the the recovery of the threatened Lahontan bottom of the present-day basin held A Lahontan cutthroat trout cutthroat trout. native Lahontan cutthroat trout. These are photographed in a shallow stream. In its lake habitats, Lahontan One of 13 cutthroat trout subspecies terminal lakes, meaning that water leaves cutthroat trout can grow to larger in the American West, this fish evolved them only by evaporation. As a result, than 60 pounds. in ancient Lake Lahontan, which at its their mineral content is extremely high.

10 ENDANGERED SPECIES BULLETIN FEBRUARy 2007 VOLUME XXXII NO. 1 Craig Springer/USFWS pounds (28kilograms)in1916. known specimentippedthescaleat62 grew tophenomenalsize.Thelargest lake habitats,theLahontancutthroattrout most likelycannibalizingitsown.In cujus) andtuichub(Gilabicolor), havoc onfishlikethecui-ui(Chasmistes it wasatopthefoodchain,wreaking tive trackforpreyingonfish.Foreons scopic animals.Thefishalsohasadiges indicating ahabitoffeedingonmicro inside theirthroatareexceedinglyhigh, of cartilaginousfilamentsorgillrakers remarkable adaptations.Thenumbers in it.Theselake-formfishhadother this condition,theyevolvedtothrive Lahontan cutthroattroutnotonlytolerate Hatchery SupervisorJayBigelowfeedsthefacility’s Lahontancutthroat trout. gravels inthe Truckee River.Dueto from Pyramid Lake totheirspawning irrigate fields,andfishlost their access dropped asfarmersdiverted water to trout. PyramidandWalkerlake levels ability andflowtoLahontan cutthroat Newlands Project,alteredwater avail first waterdevelopmentproject,the In 1905,theBureauofReclamation’s found thatthe fishsurvivingintheUtah Peacock, University ofNevada-Reno, Complex, andconductedby Dr.Mary Leader oftheintegratedLahontan NFH ies commissionedbyLisaHeki, Project Land Managementlands.Genetic stud fishless BettridgeCreekon Bureau of of theMorrisonCreekfishtonearby Natural Resourceslatertransferredsome Nelson oftheUtahDepartment a precautionagainstextinction,Bryce unknown. Fastforwardtothe1970s.As and bywhomthetransferwasmadeis proved pricelessforconservation.When on PilotPeakinUtah,aneventthat small fishlessstream,MorrisonCreek, transferred fromPyramidLakeintoa conditions appearedtobeextinct. tremendous growthinthefaceofharsh dwelling troutthatcarriedthegenesfor remained, thenativestrainoflake- river-dwelling Lahontancutthroattrout by 1939.Althoughreducednumbersof Pyramid Lakewasdevoidofthetrout a lackofavailablespawninghabitat, At somepointinthepast,troutwere NAGRDSEISBLEI FBUR 07 VOLUME XXXIINO. 1 FEBRUARy 2007 ENDANGERED SPECIESBULLETIN real chanceforrecovery. measured, butnowthisunique fishhasa be afewyearsbeforesuccess canbe incubated inTruckeeRiverwater. Itwill the Truckeetospawn,eggs willbe to swimbackthroughthepassageinto on theriverwaterandgetadults Pyramid Lake.Toimprinttheyoungfish terminus oftheTruckeeRiverabove Fish PassageFacility,locatednearthe as eggsareincubatedattheMarbleBluff The fishcultureexpertisewillbeapplied Leaf LakeandperhapsinTahoe. fish willbestockedinCalifornia’sFallen ous demandsforfishhealth.Someofthe Indian tribe. ational fisherymanagedbythePaiute to significantlycontributetherecre Pyramid Lake.Theretheyareexpected the hatcheryplaced13,197fishinto cess initshatchingefforts,and2004 Creek flows. who ownsthelandoverwhichMorrison Doudy, aconservation-mindedcitizen has awillingandablepartnerinSteve the broodstock.Thehatcherycomplex brought tothehatcheryandinfusedinto eggs fromMorrisonCreektroutare “keep thewildinfish,”fertilized a robustlineandgeneticintegrity.To manage thebroodstocktomaintain takes time.Bigelowandcrewcarefully river rightthroughdowntownReno.” 30-pound cutthroattroutrunningthe down theroad,wecouldhave20-to cooperation,” shesays.“Twentyyears quicker thanpeoplebelieve—ifthereis is optimistic.“yes,itcanbedone,and even greatersportfishingqualities.Heki native threatenedspecies,butonewith a facilitycenteredontherecoveryof short-term put-and-takesportfisheryto Hatchery hasmovedfromafocuson ery work,theLahontanNationalFish cutthroat trout. original lake-dwellingformofLahontan streams arepurerepresentativesofthe The hatcherycontinuestomeetrigor In 2001thehatcheryachievedsuc Building broodstocksfromwildfish Through Heki’s12yearsofrecov