Little Colorado Spinedace
A subtle silvery minnow carries an outsized conservation story within the pools and connected flows of northern Arizona’s Little Colorado basin.
Artwork inspired by Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton
Little Colorado Spinedace are small native minnows whose subtle dorsal spine and silvery-olive body are less important than their restricted watershed. They use pools with cover and flowing connections among habitats.
Learn at signed recovery sites or from agency monitoring material rather than attempting capture. Turbidity, drought, and season can make fish invisible even where present. Never enter restoration reaches, move fish, or publish exact vulnerable-pool locations. Protecting flow and excluding invasive predators matter more than a sighting.
- Primary state
- Arizona
- Status
- Threatened fish endemic to northern Arizona
- Range
- United States
Quick guide
- First decision
- Small silvery minnow with dusky side and fine dorsal spine
- Context check
- fin placement and tail shape; context: Pools and flowing reaches of the Little Colorado River basin
Field decisions for Little Colorado Spinedace
- Establish the whole form
- Begin with Small silvery minnow with dusky side and fine dorsal spine.
- Separate the nearest alternative
- Confirm the fine dorsal spine, dusky side, and small minnow proportions before ruling out other native or introduced fishes.
- Add ecological context
- Pools and flowing reaches of the Little Colorado River basin; resident; clearest in stable stream flow.
- Leave the evidence intact
- Do not reposition, collect, bait, pursue, or clear vegetation around Little Colorado Spinedace.
Good to know
The strongest Little Colorado Spinedace record preserves the distinction between “Small silvery minnow with dusky side and fine dorsal spine” and “fin placement and tail shape” while also showing the surrounding habitat.
Notice these
- Small silvery minnow with dusky side and fine dorsal spine