By KRWG News
Las Cruces – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has revised its recovery plan for the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow.
The revision includes updated scientific information about the fish, which is native to the Rio Grande and the Pecos River.
The plan outlines the criteria and actions needed to consider downlisting the species.
The silvery minnow has been eliminated from about 93 percent of its historical range, and currently lives in a 174-mile stretch of the Rio Grande in central New Mexico.
The species' decline has been blamed on habitat destruction, river modifications, reduced water quality, predation by nonnative species and other factors.
Fish and Wildlife Southwest Region Director Benjamin Tuggle says the revised plan serves as a blueprint to recover the minnow.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.