F is for Fish Lake Physa

Fish Lake Physa
Physella microstriata

Where it lived: the freshwaters of Fish Lake, Utah’s largest natural mountain lake

“10 percent of all freshwater snails are extinct and 64 percent are conservation targets. This rate of imperilment exceeds that of most other major animal groups in North America.” (source)

 

Last seen in: 1929

Declared extinct by IUCN in: 2000

Extinction causes:

  • management practices designed to improve sport fishing and/or boating, including the widespread removal of vegetation in swallow water

"It [may be] another example … of a species whose extinction has been caused by federal activities designed to promote the interests of sportsmen and tourists. Such policies must be carried out in the future only after proper impact studies have been done."

—A. H. Clarke, quoted in “Rare, Imperiled, and Recently Extinct or Extirpated Mollusks of Utah: A Literature Review”