- NARRATOR: In Far West Texas amongst the rocky and rough
terrain lies the Trans Pecos.
[music]
In this dry Chihuahuan desert region, aquatic life
lives on in rivers, creeks and cienegas.
[music]
Many of these fish are only found here in the desert,
adapted to survive in these harsh conditions.
- KEN SAUNDERS: Because of lack of water and loss of habitat
we have a lot of fish in West Texas that are threatened.
- NARRATOR: One fish in particular, the Peco's pupfish,
is in serious trouble.
With habitat fragmentation, loss of water, and a now a new
threat hybridization, this desert dweller's existence
is on the brink.
- KEN: Wow, this has really changed, I think our sight
is right down there.
- NARRATOR: Ken Saunders has been working out here in
West Texas for 27 years and today he's out to check
on the Peco's pupfish.
- KEN: So it looks like we have a big platform rig that's
already pumping, we've got this new one going in right here.
And our creek's running right in between it!
[water ripples]
Four or five years ago when we started working here,
we'd come out here and all you could see was the creek.
You can sit here and count rig after rig after rig.
It's just really changed the landscape a lot.
[water flowing)
So we have about three miles left of creek left in the
whole state of Texas that has the Pecos pupfish in it.
We are hoping they're still there, so we are going to be
taking DNA samples and shortly we'll be able to know
whether we still have that fish here or not.
- NARRATOR: The Pecos pupfish is just one of 24 similar
small fish that are now threatened or endangered
here in West Texas.
- KEN: So why should we care about these little fish,
they're kinda the first to go, if they go what's next.
It's part of the natural system, and every time we lose
part of our natural system, we lose part of us.
It's our world, if we don't take care of it,
what are we going to have left?
- NARRATOR: The historic home for the Pecos Pupfish,
in Texas, was the Pecos River.
Beginning along the New Mexico border flowing southeast
all the way to the Rio Grande.
Now all the pupfish has left is a small tributary
up near Pecos, Texas.
[water splashes]
- KEN: Look at all those babies right there,
those are a bunch of juvenile's right there!
That's good!
- NARRATOR: But everything's not good here in this creek!
- KEN: These larger fish that you can see here are
Gulf Killi fish that were introduced,
they're normally in the estuaries along the Gulf coast.
- DIEGO ARAUJO: Oh, got a big one!
- KEN: Look at that big fat belly too, I wonder what
he's been eating!
- NARRATOR: The Gulf Killi fish is the top predator to
all these Pecos pupfish.
- KEN: You can see they get pretty big compared to our
Pupfish, that's a baby Pupfish right there.
Obviously this fish can eat that fish and we are
finding that they do!
O.K.
- NARRATOR: To help the pupfish biologists do a
quarterly fish count of sorts.
- DIEGO: We go in and we try to do some sein hauls.
- KEN: Twist in the net right there.
There we go!
- DIEGO: But once we actually drag the seine through
the water, we bring it up to the shore.
- KEN: And lift, oh man!
- DIEGO: OHHH!
- KEN: Look at all those fish!
- DIEGO: We pick out all the fish from the net,
identifying which species we have, how many of each species,
- KEN: Ten juveniles.
- DIEGO: Fifteen juvees, five adults.
Ten adults, two juvees.
We're trying to see how many adults we have,
how many juveniles we have.
So we can try and establish trends.
- KEN: That right there is a big adult pupfish,
female looks like she is full of eggs.
[rushing water]
The science we are doing is really important because it
gives us an idea of how the population of fish are doing.
Are they declining?
We wouldn't know that if we didn't come out here quarterly,
throughout the year to monitor the population.
- NARRATOR: The biggest threat to the pupfish is another
introduced minnow, that's kind of like an evil twin.
- KEN: We have an introduced fish from the Gulf Coast
called the sheepshead minnow, very, very similar to the
pupfish and they interbreed.
When they do they create hybrids that are
not pure pupfish.
- NARRATOR: In Texas this is the last natural stronghold
where the Pecos pupfish is still pure.
- KEN: It has hybridized itself and now you can't
find em anymore.
That's just one more problem these little guys are facing
in this creek.
- NARRATOR: While biologists look for solutions to the
non-native species here, they're also working with
landowners in the Pecos region to find creeks that can
serve as a new home.
Until then they're partnering with Texas zoos so the
pupfish doesn't go extinct.
- You see?
- Oh I see em now, I see what we're looking for.
- NARRATOR: Here at the Fort Worth Zoo, there is a captive
breeding program underway.
- This is basically a refuge,
if something happens to the natural population out in Pecos.
- NARRATOR: This man made nursery ensures that the
Pecos pupfish will live on.
- ROBYN: We have a couple different age groups um,
got some young fry, all the way up to adults and juveniles
in between, in the collection there's probably 250 right now!
- KEN: Through that effort we've been able to ensure that
this fish does not go extinct, if something happens
to its remaining habitat.
- DIEGO: We don't want to see these fish go endangered,
it would be a big loss if it were to disappear.
- KEN: I hate to say it, but a lot of times our job is
documenting extinction.
Mike we're going to start with number 60.
- NARRATOR: To see if extinction is upon us here
and now and the fish have indeed hybridized some
molecular biology is about to begin.
- KEN: So we are going to be taking some DNA samples
and shortly we'll be able to know if we still have that
fish here or not.
But if this population is gone, then the natural population,
the wild population is gone, and we don't have it
anymore in Texas.
[rapids]
- NARRATOR: As for this creek and the pupfish it's no doubt
a struggle, but these biologists provide hope.
- DIEGO: With all the work that we are doing,
the monitoring we hope that it's having a benefit to the species.
We're going to continue fighting the good fight.
- When we came in January we caught less than
10 or 12 total, in all of our sampling.
- DIEGO: OHH!
- KEN: Got a bunch of em!
- DIEGO: Yes!
- KEN: So for us to be able to drag two seine hauls
and literally catch hundreds of juveniles, that's a good thing.
We just hope they are pure.
If they are pure then we still have a very healthy population.
[music]
- DIEGO: It's great to go into it and find so many numbers,
and see that it's still there and that it's persisting.
And see that there is in fact pupfish and there is a lot of
reproduction going on which is a good sign!
[music]
- KEN: The reason I'm out here, and the reason I do this -
even though it's at times very disheartening to see
what's happening -
is because if we don't fight the battles,
we won't win any at all.
Through our efforts we may be able to keep some fish alive.
[music]
It's not for me to decide to throw my hands up.
My job is to continue working as hard as I can to protect
these fishes and these natural habitats for
future generations.
And that's why we do what we do!
[music]
- NARRATOR: This project was funded in part by a grant
from the Wildlife Restoration Program.