Saltmarsh topminnow
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| Saltmarsh topminnow | ||||||||||||||
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| Fundulus jenkinsi Evermann, 1892 |
The saltmarsh topminnow is a U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service Species of Concern. Species of Concern are those species about which the U.S. Government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, has some concerns regarding status and threats, but for which insufficient information is available to indicate a need to list the species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA).
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[edit] Species Description
Saltmarsh topiminnows have little color in life; there is cross-hatching on the back and sides that may be gray-green or fainter and 12 to 30 dark round spots are often arranged in rows along the midside of the body from above the pectoral fin to the base of the caudal fin.
[edit] Ecology
Saltmarsh topminnows live in estuaries, coastal salt marshes and back water sloughs including shallow tidal meanders of Spartina marshes. They are endemic to brackish water areas from Galveston Bay, Texas to Escambia Bay in the western panhandle of Florida.
[edit] Conservation
Habitat alteration, dredging, and marsh erosion are the most serious threats to the saltmarsh topminnow.
[edit] Conservation Designations
IUCN[1]: Not Evaluated
American Fisheries Society: Threatened in Florida, Vulnerable elsewhere
Species of Greatest Conservation Need: FL, LA, MS.
[edit] Status Reviews
In 2006 the Species of Concern Grant program[2] funded the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources $71,726 for the study: “Fundulus jenkinsi, Saltmarsh Topminnow: Conservation Planning and Implementation”.
[edit] References
NMFS. Species of Concern Fact Sheet[3]. 2008
