Environmentalists pin hopes on tiny fish to stop Highway 413 [Video]

Construction of Highway 413 is set to begin in the Greater Toronto Area next year but environmental groups say they hope a tiny fish will get in the way of the province’s plans.

A member of the minnow family, the Redside dace is considered endangered in Ontario. The fish, which grows to about 12 centimetres long, has red and yellow stripes on its body and is facing “imminent extinction or extirpation,” according the province.

Environmentalist groups say the fish’s habitat largely overlaps with the new highway’s route. Highway 413, which crosses northern and western parts of the GTA, will link Peel, York and Halton regions.

The fish is found in a few tributaries of Lake Huron, in streams flowing into western Lake Ontario, the Holland River that flows into Lake Simcoe and Irvine Creek of the Grand River system that flows into Lake Erie, according to the province.

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