The Mora National Fish Hatchery and Technology Center is one of seven federal

fish hatchery A fish hatchery is a place for artificial breeding, hatching, and rearing through the early life stages of animals—finfish and shellfish in particular.Crespi V., Coche A. (2008) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Gloss ...

technology centers in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Located in Mora County,

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, on State Route 434 (milepost 1.5), it is mainly involved in the restoration and recovery of the threatened

Gila trout The Gila trout (''Oncorhynchus gilae'') is a species of salmonid, related to the rainbow, native to the Southwest United States. Prior to 2006 the Gila trout was federally listed as endangered. In July 2006, after much work by the Game and Fish ...

, a fish found only in the upper headwaters of the

Gila River The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of n ...

in New Mexico and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. Formal cooperative agreements between the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

and New Mexico Game and Fish call for the Mora hatchery to also establish a brood stock of

Rio Grande cutthroat trout The Rio Grande cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarki virginalis''), a member of the family Salmonidae, is found in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado in tributaries of the Rio Grande. It is one of 14 subspecies of cutthroat trout nat ...

and provide fish culture training to other biologists. The Mora hatchery also works to conserve the

bonytail chub The bonytail chub or bonytail (''Gila elegans'') is a cyprinid freshwater fish native to the Colorado River basin of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in the southwestern United States; it has been extirpated fro ...

. The hatchery accepts a limited number of volunteers to assist in conservation activities.

Gila trout

Scientists at the Mora hatchery keep brood stocks of the Gila trout, maintaining them in as natural a setting as possible. They keep the Gila trout in tanks with woody cover, current flow, and with other fishes that naturally associate in the wild, like the

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

and Sonoran sucker. Culturing fish in as natural an environment as possible is intended to maintain wild characteristics so that the offspring are well-suited to face the rigors of the wild. Elaborate quarantine procedures have been established to prevent the spread of disease to the rare brood stocks from fish brought in from the wild and from other hatcheries. Of particular concern is

whirling disease ''Myxobolus cerebralis'' is a myxosporean parasite of salmonids (salmon and trout species) that causes whirling disease in farmed salmon and trout and also in wild fish populations. It was first described in rainbow trout in Germany in 1893, ...

Water recirculation system

In 2000, the Mora fish hatchery installed an award-winning, leading-edge water recirculation system that allows the Mora facility to recirculate up to 95 percent of its water.

Notes

External links

"Mora National Fish Hatchery"

Springer, Craig (27 September 2006) "Gila trout down-listed to threatened status" ''Fishing World''
{{coord, 36, 01, 39, N, 105, 16, 36, W, display=title National Fish Hatcheries of the United States Buildings and structures in Mora County, New Mexico Tourist attractions in Mora County, New Mexico Agricultural buildings and structures in New Mexico