PROTECTION STATUS: Endangered
YEAR LISTED: 1967
CRITICAL HABITAT: None
RECOVERY PLAN: Original in 1983; updated in 1996
RANGE: Warm springs and reaches of the headwaters of the Muddy River in Nevada
THREATS: Groundwater developments for urbanization and competition from nonnative fish species
POPULATION TREND: The Moapa dace was first discovered in 1938 and was considered common until the 1950s. The population in 1969 was estimated to be 500 to 1,000 individuals; by 1983, at the time the species' original recovery plan was published, fewer than 1,000 individuals were found. In 1994, 3,841 adults were found, but by 2007 that number dropped to only 1,172 individuals. By 2010, the population had dwindled much further to include about 697 individual dace. That year, a fire almost completely destroyed the Warm Springs Oasis on the Muddy River, delivering what many believed could be a mortal blow to the fish's last remaining population.