Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Watch Live

Environment

California's Drought Pushes Tiny Fish Toward Extinction

A dry creek bed in the Red Hills Mountain range of Tuolumne County, August 2014.
Amy Quinton / Capital Public Radio
A dry creek bed in the Red Hills Mountain range of Tuolumne County, August 2014.

Rebecca Quinones with the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences walks through thick brush in the Red Hills Mountain range of Tuolumne County.

“I’m here at the shores of Horton Creek, and I’m using a dip net to collect some of the roach that we’re seeing,” Quinones says.

Rebecca Quinones walks through thick brush in the Red Hills Mountain range of Tuolumne County, April 2014.
Amy Quinton / Capital Public Radio
Rebecca Quinones walks through thick brush in the Red Hills Mountain range of Tuolumne County, April 2014.
UC Davis fish biologist Peter Moyle scoops Red Hill Roaches out of a small creek in Tuolumne County, August 2014.
Amy Quinton / Capital Public Radio
UC Davis fish biologist Peter Moyle scoops Red Hill Roaches out of a small creek in Tuolumne County, August 2014.

Roach, as in the Red Hills Roach. It’s a small minnow-like fish that lives in a unique and uninviting environment: small warm creeks with nutrient-poor soil.

Advertisement

“With three years of drought these streams can become very inhospitable for the native fishes," Quinones says. "So what we’re trying to document is not only the change in habitats but also how the fish communities are responding.”

Quinones visited 15 creeks in the area this week, two-thirds of them were dry. UC Davis fish biologist Peter Moyle said it's a cause for worry.

“So that gave me great concern that these fish could be on the verge of extinction, but if still you look at it, this is a very restricted habitat,” Moyle says.

The stream is about 3 feet wide and about 8 inches deep, but it looks more like a big puddle. Moyle was pleasantly surprised not only to find the creek, but plenty of Red Hill Roaches.

“Which is exciting, I’m glad they’re here. You can see the little fish. I was worried about this we might actually get good news,” Moyle says.

Advertisement

It is good news, especially in a third year of drought.

“But I’m looking at the abundance the relative abundance of these fish, there’s just not many of them," Quinones says. "In a stream this size, that has water and we’re still in August, I would have expected to see more than what we’re seeing. “

Their research also shows with climate change about 82 percent of California’s native fish species are at risk of extinction in the next 100 years.