ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Efforts to trick the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow into spawning appears to have worked.
Managers started releasing extra water into the Rio Grande last week to mimic spring runoff. The extra flows trigger the tiny fish’s reproductive instincts to spawn.
Officials at the Albuquerque BioPark tell the Albuquerque Journal (https://bit.ly/T4funM) that some eggs have been collected and will be used at hatcheries to help sustain the minnow’s dwindling population.
Despite releasing thousands of hatchery-raised minnows into the river each fall, the population is at its lowest level since monitoring began more than 20 years ago.
An exchange among Native American pueblos and Albuquerque’s water utility authority helped make the release of water possible.
Water managers say flows will be slowly reduced through the river’s Albuquerque stretch beginning Thursday.
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Information from: Albuquerque Journal, https://www.abqjournal.com
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