Loach Minnow are habitat specialists. They occupy elevation ranges of 500 - 2500 m above sea level. They tend to be found in intermediate reaches of streams, meaning not in the headwaters and not in the mainstem of the river, but in the areas in between.
Loach Minnow are only found in the Gila River Basin in Arizona and New Mexico & the san pedro river in Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora. The Gila River is a tributary of the Colorado River and drains over 212,000 km^2. The Gila River basin like other basins in the American Southwest have few perennial streams or few rivers that run continuously throughout the year. This means that Loach Minnow without any human stressors already existed in a limited number of habitats.
Loach Minnow have lost around 85% of their historic habitat and are now found in only 7 of the 35 streams they once inhabited. They were listed as endangered in 1986 under the Endangered species act.
Species distribution modeling is being used to understand the historic and current distributions of loach minnow, the primary ecological drivers of their distribution, and to prioritize areas for conservation. These models can be used to identify specific areas in a stream with environmental conditions similar to those historically occupied by Loach Minnow for further conservation efforts and assessments of habitat at finer spatial scales.This habitat modeling can be used to guide translocation efforts of Loach Minnow. Translocation is when wildlife managers take fish from a healthy population and try to establish a population in a stream that currently doesn’t have that species or has low numbers of that species.Translocations and stockings have been undertaken by the Arizona Game and Fish Department in the Blue River.
eDNA assessments by arizona game and fish and the us forest service is used to detect areas where loach minnow are present with more sensitivity than that of traditional methods.
Invasive species removal by Marsh & Associates and the Bureau of Land Management to limit predation on Loach Minnow in Aravaipa creek to limit predation. And by AZG&F department in the Blue River to eliminate predation.
Construction of fish barriers to limit invasive predatory fish from infiltrating tributaries where Loach Minnow are still found from the mainstems of rivers.Such barriers have been completed on fossil Creek, Aravaipa creek, and bonita creeks with others planned on Eagle creek and Wet Beaver creek.
Loach Minnow are currently being raised at the Arizona Game and Fish Departments Aquatic research and conservation center to be used for stocking back into the wild in areas where they have been extirpated.
The university of Arizona is researching the thermal limitations of loach minnow to better understand how heat stress may effect their populations.
Loach Minnow in an Arizona Canyon Stream