Federal wildlife officials are loosening protections for a native fish in the Colorado River. The razorback sucker was downlisted from "endangered" to "threatened" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The move suggests progress in protecting the fish, but environmentalists say the species still struggles to survive in much of its habitat, and stronger protections were needed.
The razorback sucker, which can grow up to 3 feet long and live for 40 years, is on a relatively short list of fish that live nowhere else in the world besides the Colorado River basin. Of the roughly 25 species on that list, four are protected under the endangered species act. Those fish face multiple threats in a river system that is getting drier and has been thoroughly altered by human activity.
First listed as endangered in 1991, the razorback sucker has been carefully monitored and managed by federal officials. They stocked portions of the Colorado River basin with fish raised in hatcheries and worked to control some invasive species.
A press release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said populations of the fish had meaningfully bounced back as a result of "more than three decades of cooperative work."
"The species' status has improved such that it is not currently in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range," the agency wrote in its decision to downlist the razorback sucker, "But that it is still likely to become so within the foreseeable future."
Environmentalists say the razorback sucker still faces major threats. Taylor McKinnon, Southwest director at the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, said one of the main issues is that the species generally cannot reproduce in the wild.
"The Fish and Wildlife Service's own plan for these fish calls for self-sustaining populations prior to downlisting," he said. "We don't have that yet. So, in rendering this decision, they've also disregarded their own criteria for downlisting from endangered to threatened."
McKinnon said thousands of razorback suckers are dumped into river habitats, but their young are eaten by other invasive fish that prey on the natives. He said the practice amounts to a "feeding program" for the invasive fish that live in those areas.
McKinnon said onlookers can only speculate as to why the fish were downlisted given their challenges to survive, but suggested a theory.
"Some of the recovery funding is reauthorized by Congress periodically," he said. "It could be that the Fish and Wildlife Service is under political pressure to show progress on recovery where not as much progress as they're alleging actually exists."
The Fish and Wildlife Service pointed to Lake Mead as a success story for the razorback sucker, and wrote that it is the only population of the species that is self-sustaining. The "stable, but small" population in Lake Mead was estimated to be 578 adults in 2023.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department supported the federal downlisting, calling it a "significant conservation achievement" and signaling that further protection is needed for the species.
"While the downlisting recognizes decades of successful conservation, it also acknowledges that the Razorback Sucker continues to require protection and active management to achieve long-term recovery," a spokesman for the agency wrote in a statement. "The Department remains committed to working with its partners to conserve and recover razorback sucker populations and ensure the species continues on its path to long-term recovery."
Native fish in the Colorado River system are in a precarious spot. Invasive fish, often introduced as sportfish in reservoirs, threaten to move into vital habitats and breeding grounds that are critical to the survival of native species. Some efforts to reverse that movement are in limbo because of shrinking water supplies, such as the "cool mix flows" that are released from Lake Powell to protect native species in the Grand Canyon.
In late 2021, the humpback chub — another one of the Colorado River native fish protected under the Endangered Species Act — was downlisted to "threatened" status.
McKinnon says the threats faced by the razorback sucker should be cause for alarm about the larger river system, which is facing historic drought and worsening climate change.
"The fact that they're now on the brink of extinction is a bellwether for the health of the entire river ecosystem," he said. "If these fish can't hang on, then a lot of the native species can't hang on, and it signals an ecosystem in sharp decline. Our societies depend on a healthy Colorado River system, and these fish are the canary in the coal mine."
Copyright 2026 KJZZ News