Warren, M. L. and M. B. Brooks (1994).  Status of freshwater fishes of the 
United States. Fisheries.  19:6-18.
	
Conservation biologists have begun a concerted effort to educate the public, 
resource administrators, and politicains about the decline of temperate 
ecosystems, including their fishes.  The United States harbors the most diverse 
temperate fish fauna in the world with about 790 species represented, about 90% 
of which are nongame fishes.  From a state-by-state perspective, diversity of 
fishes in the United States is concentrated in the South, primarily in Alabama, 
Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia, each of which supports 
at least 200 native fish species.  Endemicity of fishes is high in both the 
South and West; in the latter region, up to 70% of the fishes in some drainages 
(e.g., Colorado River) are endemic.  Imperilment apparently is not confined to 
particular taxonomic groups.  Of the five most diverse fish families in the 
United States, total imperilment ranges from 7% in the Centrarchidae to 50% in 
nonanadromous salmonids and indicates widespread and pervasive degradation of 
aquatic habitats.  Imperilment is most accute in areas of high diversity and / 
or endemicity (i.e., the southern and western states).  States with 20 or more 
imperiled fishes include Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Nevada, New 
Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, Tennessee, and Texas.  Backlogs in 
listing species as federally threatened or endangered are most egregious (10 or 
more backlogged taxa) in Alabama, Georgia, Nevada, and Tennessee.