LOS ANGELES— In response to a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed to protect the Santa Ana speckled dace in Southern California as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

“Protecting the speckled dace and their habitat under the Endangered Species Act would ensure they continue to swim throughout South Coast rivers,” said Jeff Miller, a senior conservation advocate at the Center. “We’ve already lost seven of our state’s unique freshwater fish species to extinction, with reckless water policies, unprecedented fires and climate-driven drought taking a toll on many fish in Southern California.”

The Santa Ana speckled dace is a small minnow species that lives in the Santa Ana, San Jacinto, San Gabriel and Los Angeles river systems. Speckled dace have been eliminated from three-quarters of their former stream habitats in Southern California because of dams and water diversions, which deplete stream flow and isolate fish populations, and habitat loss due to sprawl development.

Remaining dace populations in Southern California are jeopardized by rapid fossil fuel-driven climate change, which has caused more frequent drought, high intensity wildfires and intensive flooding and debris flows into streams. Santa Ana speckled dace are also threatened by introduced fish species, which prey on and compete with speckled dace.

The Center petitioned in 2020 for Endangered Species Act protection for Santa Ana speckled dace.

Background

Santa Ana speckled dace were once found throughout river systems in the foothills of Southern California mountain ranges. These fish require perennial streams fed by cool springs, with riparian vegetation habitat and shallow gravel riffles for spawning. They remain in small, fragmented populations in only about one-fourth of their historical range and are restricted mainly to headwater tributaries within national forests.

More than 80% of California’s native freshwater fishes are in decline, an indication of the degrading quality and quantity of freshwater habitats throughout the state. Several dozen freshwater fish species in California are now formally listed as threatened or endangered.