Gambusia amistadensis Peden, 1973
Amistad gambusia, Goodenough gambusia
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Extinct (Hubbs & Jensen, 1984 [only Extinct in the Wild?]; USFWS, 1987; Miller et al., 1989; Williams et al., 1989:13; Robins et al., 1991; WCMC, 1992:210; Jelks et al., 2008:401; Burkhead, 2012)
Last record: 1973 (WCMC, 1992:210); before 30 November 1974 (Miller et al. 1989:33)
IUCN RedList status: Extinct
Estimated date of extinction: 1973 (Burkhead, 2012). Although at least two captive populations survived longer than the wild population, but their exact extinction chronology is undated (NatureServe, 2013).
Distribution & Habitat
Goodenough Springs (and nearby waters), Val Verde County, Texas, USA
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
USNM 205858.5065424 (62 fish)
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Peden, Alex E. (1973a). Virtual Extinction of Gambusia amistadensis n. sp., a Poeciliid Fish from Texas. Copeia 1973(2): 210-221. https://doi.org/10.2307/1442959
Other references:
Burkhead, Noel M. (2012). Extinction Rates in North American Freshwater Fishes, 1900–2010. BioScience 62(9): 798-808.
Deacon, James E., Kobetich, Gail, Williams, James D. and Contreras, Salvador. (1979). Fishes of North America endangered, threatened, or of special concern: 1979. Fisheries 4(2): 29-44.
Guillory, V. (1980). Gambusia amistadensis Peden, Goodenough gambusia, p. 539. In: Lee, David Stephen, Gilbert, Carter R., Hocutt, Charles H., Jenkins, Robert E., McAllister, Don E. and Stauffer, Jay R., Jr. Atlas of North American freshwater fishes. Publication of the North Carolina Biological Survey. No. 1980-12: i-x + 1-867. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.141711
Hubbs, C. and Jensen, B. L. (1984). Extinction of Gambusia amistadensis, an endangered fish. Copeia 1984: 529-530.
Jelks, Howard L., Walsh, Stephen J., Burkhead, Noel M., Contreras-Balderas, Salvador, Díaz-Pardo, Edmundo, Hendrickson, Dean A., Lyons, J., Mandrak, Nicholas E., McCormick, Frank, Nelson, Joseph F., Platania, Steven P., Porter, Brady A., Renaud, Claude B., Schmitter-Soto, Juan Jacabo, Taylor, Eric B. and Warren, Melvin L. Jr. (2008). Conservation status of imperiled North American freshwater and diadromous fishes. Fisheries 33(8): 372-407.
Meffe, G. K. and Snelson, F. F., Jr. (eds). (1989). Ecology and evolution of livebearing fishes (Poeciliidae). pp. 453. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Miller, Robert Rush, Williams, James D. and Williams, Jack E. (1989). Extinctions of North American fishes during the past century. Fisheries 14(6): 22-38.
Minckley, W. L., Meffe, G. K. and Soltz, D. L. (1991). Conservation and management of short-lived fishes: the cyprinodontoids. In: W.L. Minckley and J.E. Deacon (eds), Battle Against Extinction: Native Fish Management in the American West, pp. 247-282. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona.
NatureServe. (2013a). Gambusia amistadensis. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.1. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 14 July 2013.
NatureServe. (2013b). Gambusia amistadensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T8888A18229604. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T8888A18229604.en. Accessed on 02 July 2022.
Nelson, J.S., Crossman, E.J., Espinosa-Perez, H., Findley, L.T., Gilbert, C.R., Lea, R.N. and Williams, J.D. 2004. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, Maryland.
Page, L.M. and Burr, B.M. 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes: North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts.
Page, L.M. and Burr, B.M. 2011. Peterson field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, Massachusetts.
Peden, Alex E. (1973b). Variation in Anal Spot Expression of Gambusiin Females and Its Effect on Male Courtship. Copeia 1973(2): 250-263. https://doi.org/10.2307/1442963
Rauchenberger, M. 1989. Systematics and biogeography of the genus Gambusia (Cyprinodontiformes: Poecilidae). American Museum Novitates 2951: 1-74.
Robins, C.R., Bailey, R.M., Bond, C.E., Brooker, J.R., Lachner, E.A., Lea, R.N. and Scott, W.B. 1991. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. American Fisheries Society.
USFWS (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). (1987). Removal of Gambusia amistadensis [sic], the Amistad gambusia, from the list of endangered and threatened wildlife. Federal Register 52: 46083-46087.
Vardakas, Leonidas, Perdikaris, Costas, Freyhof, Jörg, Zimmerman, Brian, Ford, Matthew, Vlachopoulos, Konstantinos, Koutsikos, Nicholas, Karaouzas, Ioannis, Chamoglou, Maria and Kalogianni, Eleni. (2025). Global Patterns and Drivers of Freshwater Fish Extinctions: Can We Learn From Our Losses? Global Change Biology 31(5): e70244. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70244 [Table S1]
WCMC (World Conservation Monitoring Centre). (1992). Global Biodiversity: Status of the Earth's living resources. London: Chapman & Hall. xx + 594 pp.
Williams, Jack E., Johnson, James E., Hendrickson, Dean A., Contreras-Balderas, Salvador, Williams, James D., Navarro-Mendoza, Miguel, McAllister, Don E. and Deacon, James E. (1989). Fishes of North America endangered, threatened, or of special concern: 1989. Fisheries 14(6): 2-20 [13].
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/1594/amistad-gambusia