The Ameca River ( es, Río Ameca) is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

of some in length in western

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. It rises in the Bosque de la Primavera in

Jalisco Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal En ...

, 23 km to the west of state capital

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

; flows through the city of

Ameca Ameca may refer to: Biology * Ameca (fish), ''Ameca'' (fish), a monotypic ray-finned fish genus in the family Goodeidae, with the only species ''Ameca splendens'' Places in Mexico *Ameca, Jalisco, a city and municipality in central Jalisco *Chiefd ...

; and then forms the boundary between

and

Nayarit Nayarit (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit), is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 20 municipalities and its ...

on its way to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, where it drains into the

Bahía de Banderas Bahía de Banderas (, Spanish for ''Bay of Flags'') is a bay on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, within the Mexican states of Jalisco and Nayarit. It is also the name of an administrative municipality, located on the bay in Nayarit state. The port ...

Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican beach resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadalaja ...

. Its main tributaries are the Ahuacatlán and Amatlán de Cañas. The Ameca has been dammed just north of the town of La Vega, Jalisco, forming a reservoir, the Lago La Vega which extends northward to the town of

Teuchitlán Teuchitlán is a town and municipality, in Jalisco in central-western Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United ...

Fish

Several species of fish are only known from the Ameca River basin: the

butterfly splitfin The butterfly splitfin or butterfly goodeid, ''Ameca splendens'', is a bony fish from the monotypic genus ''Ameca'' of the splitfin family (Goodeidae). It was formerly found throughout the Ameca River drainage in Mexico; the type locality is Ri ...

Tequila splitfin ''Zoogoneticus tequila'', Tequila splitfin or simply Tequila fish, is a species of goodeid fish (family Goodeidae) from Mexico. The specific epithet, ''tequila'', derives from the Tequila Volcano, which looms near the type locality. Distributio ...

, finescale splitfin, banded allotoca,

golden skiffia ''Skiffia francesae'', the golden skiffia or tiro dorado, is a species of splitfin endemic to the Rio Teuchitlán, a tributary of Río Ameca in western Mexico. It is extinct in the wild, but has been maintained in aquaria and the aquarium hobb ...

Amatlan chub The Amatlan chub (''Yuriria amatlana'') is a cyprinid fish endemic to the Ameca River basin in Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to ...

Ameca chub ''Algansea amecae'', the Ameca chub, is a species of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae. It is endemic to the upper Ameca River basin in Jalisco, western Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a c ...

and

Ameca shiner The Ameca shiner (''Notropis amecae'') is a species of cyprinid fish in the family Cyprinidae. The Ameca shiner was described in 1986 from upper parts of the Ameca River drainage in Jalisco, Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially ...

. All these are highly

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensat ...

. The Tequila splitfin, finescale splitfin and golden skiffia are likely

extinct in the wild A species that is extinct in the wild (EW) is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as known only by living members kept in captivity or as a naturalized population outside its historic range due ...

; all three survive in captivity. The butterfly splitfin and banded allotoca were also thought to be extinct in the wild, but have since been rediscovered. The Ameca shiner was once feared entirely extinct, but it too survives in captivity. A reintroduction project for the shiner and Tequila splitfin was initiated in 2015.

References

Rivers of Jalisco Rivers of Nayarit Puerto Vallarta Rivers of Mexico Rivers of the Sierra Madre Occidental {{Mexico-river-stub