Search Wildlife
≡
Fish lake physa
Physella microstriata
NatureServe conservation status
Global (G-rank): GX
State (S-rank): SX
External links
Species range
This species was formerly strictly endemic, so far as is known, to Fish Lake, Sevier County, Utah.
Habitat
The only habitat information provided by anyone who saw this species alive in the field was that contained in the type description by Chamberlin and Berry (1930), who reported only: "... in shallow water along shore of portions of Fish Lake, Utah ...."
Clarke (1991) has noted regarding the area of former occurrrence of this species: "Fish Lake is at high elevation (8843 feet), 5.7 mi long (with axis SW to NE), 1.1 mi wide, and with depths exceeding 100 feet near its east side. Along the west side the bottom is of gravel and mud but with some rocks. During the summer the lake bottom becomes choked with Spirogyra and Elodea to depths of about 40 feet and dredging is impossible. The northeastern end of Fish lake is a shallow , muddy, vegetation-choked bay (Widgeon Bay) which is surrounded by a quaking bog."
Threats or limiting factors
Clarke (1991) noted that "management practices [at Fish Lake] ... include the widespread removal of vegetation in shallow water in the fall ... to improve boating and to reduce oxygen deplaetion in winter which might jeopardize desirable fishes" and commented: "It is quite possible that this species was driven to extinction by management practices designed to propagate sport fishes or to improve boating .... If so, it is another example (along with Bakerilymnaea pilsbryi [= Stagnicola pilsbryi, the Fish Springs marshsnail, which became extinct at Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, Juab County, Utah, presumably as a result of management practices intended to favor ducks]) of a species whose extinction has been caused by federal activities designed to promote the interests of sportsmen and tourists. Such policies must be carried out in the future only after proper impact studies have been done on rare and endemic species in the affected areas."
