Peppered Chub, which lives in Canadian River, placed on endangered list

SILVER CITY, N.M.— The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added a fish called the peppered chub to the endangered species list on Friday.

The agency also designated 872 river miles of critical habitat in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma for the chub, a 3-inch-long, torpedo-shaped fish of the Great Plains, according to a news release from the Center for Biological Diversity.

Peppered chubs are on the brink of extinction, according to the center. They survive only in the upper South Canadian River in northern New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle and in a tributary creek, comprising about 6% of their historic range, according to the release. That river stretch is gaining pollution and losing water to drought, the release says.

Friday's actions resulted from a 2020 lawsuit filed by the center after the peppered chub and 240 other declining animal and plant species were left in limbo with no Endangered Species Act protection, the release says. WildEarth Guardians petitioned for its protection in 2007.

The habitat consists of 197 miles of the upper South Canadian River and Revuelto Creek in New Mexico and Texas, which support the sole remaining population; 400 miles of the lower South Canadian River in Texas and Oklahoma; and 275 miles in the Cimarron River in Oklahoma.

“Peppered chubs once shared their rivers with thirsty bison, but their habitat has been overexploited and now these fishes are in deep trouble,” said Michael Robinson at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We can retain a small but beautiful part of the circle of life on the Great Plains through this endangered listing and critical habitat protection, and I’m relieved and grateful.”