- Source: Nooksack dace
The Nooksack dace is a small cyprinid fish occurring in streams in southern British Columbia and western Washington state. It has not yet been formally described taxonomically. It is considered a genetically distinct subspecies of longnose dace (Rhinichthys cataractae) but may be a distinct species.
In Canada, the distribution of the Nooksack dace is limited to four streams: three in the Nooksack basin, and one in the Fraser basin. In Canada, degradation of the stream channels due to urbanization, agriculture and low instream flow has led to the species being declared endangered under Canada's Species at Risk Act. The Nooksack dace requires shallow, fast-flowing riffle habitat within stream channels, and a low flow during the summer has been identified as a key threat to the recovery of this endangered species.
The Nooksack dace is much more widely distributed in Washington, occurring in eastern Puget Sound drainages from the Nooksack south to the Puyallup, and in Pacific coastal drainages from the Quillayute south to the Willapa.
References
Aquatic Species at Risk - Nooksack Dace | Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Paper on Nooksack dace and Salish sucker
Updated COSEWIC status report on Nooksack dace
Avery-Gomm, S., Rosenfeld, J. S., Richardson, J. S., & Pearson, M. (2014). Hydrological drought and the role of refugia in an endangered riffle-dwelling fish, Nooksack dace (Rhinichthys cataractae ssp.). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 71(11), 1625-1634.
Wydoski, Richard S.; Whitney, Richard R. (2003). Inland Fishes of Washington (2nd ed.). University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-98338-7.
Pearson, M.P., T. Hatfield, J.D. McPhail, J.S. Richardson, J.S. Rosenfeld, H. Schreier, D. Schluter, D.J. Sneep, M. Stejpovic, E.B. Taylor, and P.M. Wood. 2007. Recovery Strategy for the Nooksack Dace (Rhinichthys cataractae) in Canada. Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Vancouver. vi + 31 pp.