By BRITTANY PETERSON and SUMAN NAISHADHAM Associated Press
![Fish biologists work to rescue the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnows from pools of water in the dry Rio Grande riverbed Tuesday, July 26, 2022, in Albuquerque, N.M. For the first time in four decades, the river went dry and habitat for the endangered silvery minnow — a shimmery, pinky-sized native fish — went with it. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/252b933/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1024x683+0+0/resize/880x587!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F69%2F56%2F7d141326416386e92e06c193963b%2Fap22214720018493.jpg)
Brittany Peterson/AP
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AP
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Rio Grande went dry in Albuquerque last week for the first time in four decades. With it went critical habitat of the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow, a shimmery, pinky-sized fish native to North America's fifth-longest river. Summer storms have made the river wet again but experts warn the drying this far north is a sign of an increasingly fragile water supply, and that current conservation measures may not be enough to save the minnow and still provide water to nearby farms, backyards and parks.