We may not miss the phantom shiner, the thicktail chub, the
stumptooth minnow or the harelip sucker, but these freshwater
fishes are among 39 species (3.2 percent of North America's
freshwater fish population) and 18 subspecies that have vanished
from the continent's waters over the past century. By 2050 the
tally could reach as high as 86, an extinction rate that is
about 877 times higher than normal and that has accelerated in
the past 20 years, according to a study in the September issue
of BioScience. When so many fish disappear in a short period,
“you know something's up,” says study author Noel M. Burkhead of
the U.S. Geological Survey. Many of the extinct freshwater
fishes lived in the Great Lakes region and most likely died off
because settlements and cities built on the lakes contributed to
pollution, overfishing and the introduction of nonnative species
that outcompeted them. As compared with saltwater and
terrestrial animals, freshwater species are particularly
vulnerable because many depend on sma