ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —

The survival of the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow is a big deal, and the city's BioPark Aquatic Conservation Facility has played a critical role toward that end.

According to a City of Albuquerque news release, Rio Grande water levels were dropping dangerously in early May. BioPark biologists supported the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rescue fish, including reproductively ready silvery minnows, from isolated pools. Those were taken to the ACF, where 30,000 minnows were hatched from half the fertilized eggs and are now growing.

The rest of the fertilized eggs were sent to the Southwestern Native Aquatic Resources and Recovery Center in Dexter.

The BioPark and USFWS responded to a pulse flow — that is, a temporary release of irrigation water coordinated by th

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