•• NATIVE FISHES AND NATURAL AQUATIC HABITATS IN U. S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE REGION II WEST OF THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE A Review of Population and Habitat Status and Evaluation of Survival Potentials for Native Freshwater Fishes, with Recommendations for Manaoement to Perpetuate the Indigenous Regional Fauna by W. L. MinckiPs,' Department of Zoolooy, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 352S7 4 30 December 925 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Natural aquatic habitats are becoming scarce in the arid American Southwest due to man's expanding needs for water. Native fishes are in direct competition for this resource, and are rapidly losing in their struggle for existance. Judicious husbandry of existing habitats, reclamation of those which remain relatively natural, and an intensive program of management of native fishes can stop and reverse current trends toward faunal extinction. Recommendations are to treat these fishes as faunal complexes, and define, delineate, and acquire for management those habitats with attributes suitable to support groups of species in perpetuity. Already-protected and geographically remote habitats are of top priority, those used by man but still in a natural or semi-natural state are second, and others requiring increasing levels of reclamation are decreasingly emphasized. Big rivers and their fishes are most critically endangered, streams and fish species of intermediate and high elevations are least so, and special habitats and fishes are manageable through site acquisition and reintroduction programs. There is not =.uffirient time for in-depth research prior to artinnq to recover many of the imperiled species and populations. Collection of basic information on reproduction, species interactions, and population dispersion and dispersal, must occur concurrently with habitat and species recovery and management operations. Production and dissemination of carefully prepared reports will be necessary during the same time period so that application of new information can maximize successes of the program. Recommended Citation: NINCKLEY, W. L. 1985. Native fishes and natural aquatic habitats in U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Reoion II west of the Continental Divide. Report to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Deparment of Zoology', Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. Pp. ix + 1 5E, processed. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES vi LIST OF FIGURES vii LIST OF MAPS vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix INTRODUCTION 1 I: HISTORIC PERSPECTIVES 4 Summary of Ecoloaical Changes 4 Past and Present Aquatic Habitats 4 Fishes of the Reoion 5 Status of Regional Aquatic Habitats and Fishes 1 2 Patterns of Change in Aquatic Systems 12 Fishes Manaaement Needs, Potentials, and Plans 20 Classifications of Fishes and Available Habitats . 20 Management Plans .LL Needed Information 25 II: ACCOUNTS OF REGIONAL FISHES 29 Fishes of Mexican Watersheds 29 Longfin dace 29 Roundtail chub ( Yaqui form) 30 Sonoran chub 30 Yaqui chub :32 Beautiful shiner 33 Mexican stoneroller 36 Yaqui sucker 38 Yaqui cat-fish 38 Desert (Quitobaquito) pup-fish 41 Sonoran (Yaqui) topminnow 42 Fishes of the Lower Colorado River Basin 42.3 Marine Species 43 Machete ( Pacific tenpounder) 43 Striped mullet 45 Spotted sleeper 45 Big-river Fishes 45 Colorado squaw-fish 45 Bonytail 48 Humpback chub 51 Wound-fin 53 Razorback sucker 55 Flannelmouth sucker 58 Bluehead mountain-sucker 60 Big-river forms 62 Tributary stocks 62 Stream inhabitants 63 Lonafin dace 63 ▪ ▪ Fishes of the Lower Colorado River Basin (continued) Roundtail chub complex 65 Spikedace 68 Loach minnow .......................................... 7g Speckled dace complex ................................................72 Virgin spinedace ......................................74 Little Colorado spinedace ...........................-76 Sonoran sucker ........................................ 77 Little Colorado sucker ............................... 779 Desert mountain-sucker ............................... 79 Bluehead mountain-sucker 81 Creek Fishes 82 Gila chub OZ. Las Vegas dace 84 White River spinedace 84 Pahranaoat spinedace 84 Apache trout 85 Gila trout 87 Sprinoicienecia Forms 87 Moapa dace 87 Desert pupfish 88 Monkey Sprino pupfish ag White River spingfish 91 Sonoran (Gila) topminnow 91 III: ACCOUNTS OF AQUATIC HABITATS 94 Closed Basins Laouna Salada and Salton Sink 94 Willcox Playa 98 Other Closed Basins in Arizona and New Mexico 99 Mexican Drainages 99 Rio Yaqui System 99 Rio Concepcion Watershed 100 Rio Sonoyta Basin 1 01 Lower Colorado River System 102 Rver 102 Reaches Downstream from Grand Canyon 103 Mainstream, and Tributaries in the Grand Canyon Reach 115 Gila River System 107 Mainstream Gila River 107 Downstream Reach, West of Coolidge Dam 107 Upper Gila River Mainstream .. 108 Hassayampa and Agua Fria drainages 110 Santa Cruz River Drainage 111 Lower Mainstream 112 Arivaca Creek 113 Rill ito Creek-Pantano Wash-Cienega Creek 113 Sonoita Creek 1 1 3 Uppermost Santa Cruz Watershed 114 Lower Colorado River System (continued) San Pedro River Watershed 1 L5 San Pedro Mainstream 115 Aravaipa Creek 116 Redfield Canyon and Hooker Hot Springs • • 117 Babocomari River System 117 San Carlos River Basin 118 Gila River Tributaries between San Carlos and San Francisco Rivers 119 Bylas Springs 119 Markham Creek 119 San Simon River 1 20 Bonita and Eagle creeks 120 San Francisco and Blue rivers 121 Salt River Basin 122 Lower Salt River Mainstream and tributaries 122 Upper Salt River Mainstream and Warmwater Tributaries 123 White Mountain Tributaries 1 25 Verde River and Tributaries 125 Pill Williamq Basin 1 '7 Virgin River Basin 1 28 Little Colorado River Basin 1 -)9 San Juan River Basin 1 31 ADDENDUM AND ERRATA 1 32 REFERENCES CITED 133 V LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Common and scientific names and watersheds of occurrence of fishes in Mexican drainages Table 2. Major patterns of ecological distributions of native fishes occupying Mexican drainages Table 3. Common and scientific names of -Fishes of the lower Colorado River basin 9 Table 4. Major patterns of distributions of native fishes o-F the l ower Colorado River basin 11 Table 5. Checklist of fishes of Fish and Wildlife Service Region II west oic the Continental Divide, with notes on occurrence, abundance, and listing status 16 Table 6. Partial listing of examples o+ Federal, State, and Private preserves that presently support native fishes and/or could be developed and managed to that end 23 Table 7. Drainages of U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region II discussed in text, arranged from down— to upstream 95 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Map of coterminous United States showing U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region II, the portion of that Region west of the Continental Divide dealt with in this report, and the collective geographic distributions of most species of fishes with which this report is concerned . Figure 2. Estimated percentages of four categories of aquatic habitats at three levels of environmental quality for native fishes A Figure 3. Past and present conditions in aquatic habitats in U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region II west of the Continental Divide 13 Figure 4. Distribution of "high quality" aquatic habitats compared with present distributions of relatively intact, native fish communities in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region II west of the Continental Divide 26 MAPS OF GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTIONS Nap 1. Sonoran and Yaqui chubs (Gila ditaenia, G. purpurea) • . 31 Map 2. Beautiful shiner (Notropis formosus) 34 Nap 3. Mexican stoneroller (Campostoma ornatum) 37 Map 4. Yaqui sucker (Catostomus bernardini) 39 Nap 5. Yaqui catfish (Ictaluru pricep 40 Map 6. Machete and striped mullet (A ! Elops affinis; 8, Mugil cephalus) 44 Map 7. Colorado squawfish (Ptychocheilus l ucius) 46 Map 8. Bonytail (Gila elegan..7,) 49 Map 9. Humpback chub (Gila cypha) 52 Nap 10. Wo'undfin (Plagopterus argentissimuc.) 54 Map 11. Razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus) 56 Map 12. Flannelmouth sucker ( Catostomus l atipinnis) 59 Map 13. Bluehead mountain-sucker (Pantosteus discobolus) 61 Map 14. Longfin dace (Agosia. chrysogacfer) 64 Map 15. Roundtail chub (Gila robusta) complex 66 Nap 16. Spikedace and Moapa dace (Meda -F ulgida, Moa , a coriacea) 69 Map 17. Loach minnow (Tiaroga cobitiS) 71 Map 18. Speckled dace (Rhinichthys osculus) complex 73 Map 19. Virgin, Little Colorado, White River, and Pahranagat spinedaces (Lepidomeda mollispinis, L. vittata, L. albivall i s, L. altivelis) 75 Nap 20. Sonoran and Little Colorado River suckers (Catostomus insignis, Catostomus sp.) 78 Map 21. Desert mountain-sucker Pantosteus clarki) 80 Map 22. Gila chub (Gila intermedia) 83 Map 23. Apache and Gila trouts (A, Salmo aoache; 81 S. oilae) 86 Map 24. Desert and Monkey Springs pupfishes (Cy'prinodon macularius, Cyprinodon sp.) and White River springfish (Crenichthys bailevi) 89 Nap 25. Sonoran topminnow (Poeciliopsis occidentalis) 92 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report was researched and prepared while in residence at Dexter National Fish Hatchery, Dexter, New Mexico, on an Interagency Personnel Agreement between Arizona State University and Region II of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Albuquerque, New Mexico). George Divine and James E. Johnson of the l atter Agency arranged for and expedited that agreement. Buddy L. Jensen, Hatchery Manager at Dexter, made my tenure at the Station a memorable experience, and Sharon Coats assisted in manuscript preparation and in other ways too numerous to mention; support of other Station and Regional Office personnel also is acknowledged.