On May 1, 2025, local leaders officially named it the town’s fish and declared Saturday, May 17, as Laurel Dace Day, falling on the day after national Endangered Species Day.

Montana Stevens, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, takes a rest from snorkling while counting the endangered Moapa dace at the Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge Feb. 21, 2024.

3. Fried Dace with Salted Black Beans A less commonly known tinned fish in Western supermarkets is fried dace with salted black beans. Dace is a type of small, mild freshwater fish that's fried ...

Our newest neighbors are the longfin dace, a species of small fish that lived in the Santa Cruz River over 100 years ago before the river dried up due to overexploitation.

The dace joins an even smaller native fish known as the Gila topminnow, which was reintroduced to the downtown stretch of the Santa Cruz in October of 2020.