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BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Rhinichthys cataractae - Chehalis lineage
Nooksack Dace

 
Scientific Name: Rhinichthys cataractae - Chehalis lineage
Scientific Name Synonyms: Rhinichthys sp. 4
English Name: Nooksack Dace
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference: Nelson, J. S., E. J. Crossman, H. Espinosa-Perez, L. T. Findley, C. R. Gilbert, R. N. Lea, and J. D. Williams. 2004. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 29, Bethesda, Maryland. 386 pp.
Classification Level: Population
Taxonomy Comments: Jan. 2010: Changed from Rhinichthys sp. 4 to Rhinichthys cataractae - Chehalis lineage as per McPhail 2007.
Species Group: Vertebrate Animal
Species Code: F-RHCA-CH
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Craniata Actinopterygii Cypriniformes Leuciscidae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G3 (Jan 2025)
Provincial Status: S1 (May 2019)
BC List: Red
Provincial FRPA list:   
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status: Endangered (Dec 2018)
SARA Schedule: 1  -  Endangered (Jun 2003)
General Status Canada: 1 - At Risk (2000)
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description:
Global Reproduction Comments: Spawns in April-May in British Columbia; matures at the end of the second summer and first breeds in third spring; the oldest individual known was in her sixth year (McPhail 1997, Pearson 1999, COSEWIC 2018).
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		N /
N /
N /
na /
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence)
Global Habitat Comments: Adult habitat is riffles, typically with a loose coarse-gravel substrate and a flow of around 0.25 m/sec; young occur in shallow margins of the tail ends of pools with mud/sand substrates; eggs usually are found near the top ends of riffles (McPhail 1997, Pearson 1999, COSEWIC 2018).
Provincial Habitat Comments: Both provincial localities are small, lowland creeks. Fishtrap Creek has been recently dredged and modified to increase its flow capacity, which eliminated a lot of slow, vegetation-choked reaches and replaced them with canal-like, cobble-bottomed habitat (Swiatkiewicz 1990).
Food Habits: Invertivore: Adult, Immature
Global Food Habits Comments: Adults feed primarily on riffle-dwelling insects; young eat mainly chironomid pupae and ostracods (McPhail 1997, Pearson 1999, COSEWIC 2018).
Global Phenology:
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: N
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): 12/ /
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: This species is found in western Washington, United States and extreme southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is restricted to the drainages on the east side of Puget Sound (north to the Nooksack River) and drainages on the outer coast of the Olympic Peninsula (Queets River to Chehalis and Willapa river drainages) (McPhail and Lindsey 1986, McPhail 1997, COSEWIC 2018). Based on the range map in Pearson (1999), range extent is estimated to be approximately 40,000 kmē.
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: Cannings, S., and G. Hammerson
Last Updated: Sep 04, 1996
Provincial Information Author: CANNINGS, S.G.
Last Updated: Jan 21, 1992
   
References and Related Literature
Campbell, R.R. 1988. Rare and endangered fish and marine mammals of Canada: COSEWIC Fish and Marine Mammal Subcommittee Status Reports: IV. Canadian Field-Naturalist 102:81-86.
Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). 2018. COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Nooksack Dace (Rhinichthys cataractae) in Canada 2018. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. xii + 38 pp.
COSEWIC. 2007o. COSEWIC assessment and update status report on the Nooksack dace Rhinichthys cataractae ssp. in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. vii + 27pp.
Inglis, S. 1997. Nooksack Dace. B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch. 6pp.
Longnose Dace and Nooksack Dace. 1999. B.C. Fish Facts. Conserv. Sect., Fish. Manage. Branch, B.C. Minist. Fish. 2pp.
McPhail, J. D. 1997. Status of the Nooksack dace, Rhinichthys sp., in Canada. Canadian Field-Naturalist 111(2):258-262.
Pearson, M. 2000. The Biology and Management of the Salish Sucker and Nooksack Dace. Pp. 619-624 in L.M. Darling, ed. 2000. Proc. Conf. on the Biology and Manage. Species and Habitats at Risk, Kamloops, B.C., 15-19 Feb., 1999. Vol. 2; B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Victoria, BC, and Univ. College of the Cariboo, Kamloops, BC. 520pp.
Pearson, M. P. 1999. The biology and management of the Salish sucker and Nooksack dace. In Proceedings of a Conference on the Biology and Management of Species and Habitats at Risk, Kamloops, B.C. 15?19 February 1999.
Scott, W. B., and E. J. Crossman. 1973. Freshwater fishes of Canada. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Bulletin 184. 966 pp.
Swiatkiewicz, V. 1990. Fish collection permit report form and associated documents regarding the Salish sucker in Fishtrap Creek. Regulations file, Fish and Wildl., B.C. Environ., Surrey.
University of British Columbia. Dep. Bot., Dep. Zool., Biol. Sci. Bldg., 6270 Univ. Blvd., Vancouver, BC.
Williams, J.E, J.E. Johnson, D.A. Hendrickson, S. Contreras-Balderas, J.D. Williams, M. Navarro-Mendoza, D.E. McAllister, and J.E. Deacon. 1989b. Fishes of North America endangered, threatened or of special concern: 1989. Fisheries 14(6):2-20.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1996. Species Summary: Rhinichthys cataractae - Chehalis lineage. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 4, 2026).