FORT WORTH, Texas — Wading through a muddy river bed to reach shallow pools of water, wildlife biologists scooped up hundreds of minnows Friday in one of the first rescues of fish threatened by the state’s worst drought in decades.
The scientists collected small eye shiners and sharp nose shiners from the Brazos River — about 2,300 on Thursday and 800 Friday.
The fish, which are found only in the Brazos and nowhere else in the world, are both candidates to be listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. They will be taken to the state’s fish hatchery near Possum Kingdom Lake but returned to the river when the drought abates.
Scientists used a large net to scoop up dozens of fish at a time Friday morning near Sagerton, about 150 miles west of Fort Worth.
Both types of 2-inch-long minnows are shiny and have other distinctive features, making them easy for scientists to spot and put in buckets, while throwing other fish caught in the nets back in the water, said Kevin Mayes, an aquatic biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
With the water drying up in the drought, the minnows don’t have the 100 miles of river they need to reproduce. And, their life span is just two years, Mayes said. Game fish like catfish and largemouth bass eat the minnows, making them an important part of the ecosystem, he said.
Gene Wilde, a Texas Tech University fish ecology professor who led the team, said he thinks that effort was the first fish rescue in Texas during this severe drought.
“We value these species and they are an important part of the Texas natural heritage, so we’re trying to prevent losing them in this drought,” Wilde said, referring to both rescue efforts. Large fish rescues are rare, but they could become more common as the drought persists.
