Spikedace, Meda fulgida
Note: This Species is currently considered to be ENDANGERED and if encountered should be handled accordingly.
Spikedace, Meda fulgida. Fish collected from the Lower Blue River in Southeast Arizona, June 2020, quickly photographed in an aquarium type setting and quickly returned to its native environment unharmed.
Spikedace, Meda fulgida. Fish collected from the Fish caught from El Rito Creek, Santa Rosa, New Mexico, September 2018, quickly photographed in an aquarium type setting and quickly returned to its native environment unharmed.
Note: In 2012 the Spikedace was placed on the Federal Endangered List by the United States Department of the Interiors Fish and Wildlife Service covering the known populations in Arizona and New Mexico. The fish is included in this www site to provide education to recreational anglers in case they encounter this species in the wild and can treat the catch appropriately, i.e., immediately returning to its native environment unharmed. It is also included due the availability of quality photographs taken by one of my readership who encountered the fish in the wild and asked for my help with the identification.
The Spikedace, Meda fulgida, is a member of the Carps and Minnows or Cyprinidae Family, and is known in Mexico as carpita aguda. Globally, there is only one species in the genus Meda and it is found in Mexico’s freshwater systems.
The Spikedace has a small, slender body with a compressed head and a strongly compressed caudal peduncle. They are olive-gray to light brown dorsally, with a brilliant silver sides, often with blue reflections, black specks and blotches on the back and upper side. The breeding male has a spectacular, bright, brassy yellow head and fins. Their head has a pointed snout and a slightly subterminal mouth and large eyes. Their anal fin has 9 rays; their dorsal fin has 7 rays, the first of which is the strongest, and originates before the pelvic fin origin and has sharp spines; their pelvic fins have sharp spines. They do not have scales.
The Spikedace is small freshwater demersal species that occupies midwater habitats of runs and pools, and prefers shallow fast-moving water with gravel and rubble substrates. They reach a maximum of 9.1 cm (3.6 inches) in length. They are omnivore that feed on minute animal and plant organisms including detritus, bacteria, filamentous algae, bacteria, crustaceans, detritus, fish, aquatic insects, worms and zooplankton. They have the ability to survive flooding conditions that gives them a competitive advantage over non-native fishes. They are known to undergo large fluctuations in population size. The adults are found as either solitary individuals or in schools of 10 or more fish. They are found in faster moving waters during warm month and slower flowing water in the cooler months. The juveniles are found in slower flowing waters that have cover. Reproduction is oviparous with each female producing one or two broods of 100 to 300 eggs per year. The Spikedace is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.
The Spikedace has a very limited range in Mexican freshwater system being found in the upper San Pedro and the Gila Rivers in Sonora at elevations below 1,900 m (6,200 feet). Both of these rivers have undergone major diversions recently and the Spikedace populations are extremely limited and facing extinction in Mexican waters.
The Spikedace is a straight forward identification that cannot be confused with any other species.
From a conservation perspective the Spikedace is currently considered to be ENDANGERED with declines documented to be up to 90% in recent years that are attributed to the removal of water from their habitats, steam impoundment, domestic livestock grazing, mining, road construction, pollution and the introduction of non-native species including Channel Catfish, Green Sunfish, Rainbow Trout, Red Shiner, and Smallmouth Bass. They are very small in stature and of limited interest to most. They are, however, a major focus of conservationists in Arizona and New Mexico.