By Aimee Roberson
The Rio Grande silvery minnow was once one of the most common fishes in the Rio Grande, from the Texas coast into northern New Mexico. But by the 1970s, it had disappeared from our region. And until recently, it could only be found in a small stretch of the Rio Grande near Albuquerque, New Mexico, about seven percent of its historic range. Now though, after an absence of nearly fifty years, this endangered species swims again in the Big Bend reach of the Rio Grande. Why did the silvery minnow disappear from here in the first place? And what does its return mean for the future of this little fish and the Rio Grande?
