During the Q & A period following his presentation, I asked if he
was
familiar with the "desert pupfishes" of the family Cyprinodon found
in
the valley and surrounding territory. He said he was, and immediately
addressed his remarks to the Devils Hole Pupfish (C. diabolis),
explaining
how it had been seriously threatened due to lowering of the water table
at
Devils Hole, and was now totally protected and listed as an endangered
species.
He then continued to say that this sub-species is the only desert fish
in the
area that is actually threatened - but that "environmentalists" had
persuaded
the federal government to list all of the fishes. He said that
in the wet season
(indicating this was roughly December-January), there were "millions
of the
little fishes" out there in the various springs and water holes.
Comments, anyone? I'm not very familiar with the true situation,
and his
comments sure got me wondering.
Bob Sinclair
Santa Barbara CA
Christopher Scharpf wrote:
I'm wondering if anybody on this lsit can help me understand the difference
between state rankings of endangered biota, and the so-called G-rankings used by
the Nature Conservancy, natural heritage programs (NHP), and other
organizations.How do the rankings -- e.g. G1, G2 -- align with the terms endangered,
threatened, etc? Are they analagous?Are NHP fishes -- which may sometimes appear on a state's special status fishes
list -- protected under state law?I'm real murky on this and would appreciate some clarification.
Thanks,
Chris Scharpf
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