Endangered fish

[mseguin]

A while ago dpatte brought up the topic of endangered fish that are kept in the hobby, and I thought I would do some research into this. After all, this is a topic I have a great interest in, being both a fishkeeper and an ecologist. So I compiled a (by no means complete) list of fish that are on the IUCN redlist and are sometimes or frequently seen in the hobby. Feel free to add any you can think of. I left out anything that was listed as Data Deficient, even though these are often listed becuz they were once known to be endangered, and left out a number of extinct species (including at least 20 L. Victoria cichlids). Also, this list does not include subpopulations. There are a couple surprises, I think.
My point is to encourage people to be responsible about fishkeeping and the environment. There are certain fish, that in my opinion, should not be kept at all. For example, just about every species of seahorse are endangered; even if some of them are bred in captivity, it is obvious that they are to hard to breed to keep up with demand, and if the captive demand runs out, wild caught specimens will be imported, and that's not ood. Considering that seahorses have a tremendous failure rate in captivity, just don't bother.
It also helps to be responsible about buying wild fish. In some cases, I can see the appeal of wild fish (Africans from particular locations, eg.), and if it is done responsibly, it can actually be good for conservation. However, I recently saw a store (no names) order wild neon tetras, which I thought was insane. With some fish, there is no real reason that you would need wil caught ones, and there's no point to risk doing damage to the ecosystem. And since we, as the custoemrs, have the buying power, I encourage everyone to think environmentally when purchasing fish. :-) That's it, I'm done ranting. :-)
P.s. Data is from the IUCN redlist as well as fishbase.org

[Shouganai]

Downloading this right away! Thank you very much for this! It is of particular interest to me as well, in my field.

I totally agree with your comments about wild fish. I notice the same happens with herps, and its probably just as bad, if not worse. I understand the need/want for specific wild-caught animals for genetics/breeding reasons, and those animals should really be available only to people with an advanced enough knowledge of husbandry and breeding to put the animals to good use. It makes me sick to see wild caught herps and fish just going to whomever, to be kept simply for hobby's sake. It just seems like a waste.. all the stress on wild populations for nothing, and the shallow genetic pool in the hobby does not gain a thing. I'm sure there must be a few captive fish species that would benefit from some new genetic material being introduced into the population.. I KNOW thats the case with herps.. *cough*beardies*cough*.

[kennyman]

Unfortunately I cant open that file extension. But I know from my reasearch into the indonesian fish that a number of them are now endangered. Things like excesive harvesting, loss of habitat and introduction of invasive species are cited for the causes.

Appearently pople imported guppies and mollies from SA, releasing them into the streams and ponds in order to establish breeding collonies to harvest for the aquarium trade! The place is now overrun with them :/

[darkdep]

White Cloud minnows are believed extinct in the wild?  Wow...I feel bad using them for cycling now

[Julie]

Matt:  can you post in another format - I don't have excel.

thanks,
Julie

[mseguin]

I will try, it might have to wait until later today, as I have class till 4:30.
Guppies have been introduced all over the place, if you look at fishbase.org, there's hardly a country they can't be found. Mollies, mosquitofish, and other livebearers as well have been excessively introduced.
Strangely, WCMM are not listed on the Redlist, but I asked a scientist from the Museum of Nature about them and he agreed that they are extinct in the wild. Even if they are not quite gone, their habitat has been extensively damaged by pollution and habitat loss. That ebing said, there's no reason not to buy them since any fish you will find will be captive raised and captive breeding is the only place they will likely exist from now on.

[zapisto]

here is a text version

[mseguin]

Thanks zap.

[dpatte]

after reading this list a couple of months ago, I decided to breed cherry barbs which are listed as vulnerable. I now have about 120.

I believe in this case the habitat is destroyed, but cherry barbs are still plentiful due to the hobby.

Its terfore important to differentiate which species are important to acquire and breed, and which are important to avoid.

I would still like, at some time, to build a committee within our club to build a recommended club response to the complete issue.

[Woody]

I agree with dpatte.

We must differenciate between species that need protection in the wild and species which are extinct in the wild, but flourish in the aquarium trade due to groups of dedicated hobbyiests.
There are many groups and organization around the world that breed and trade genetic material of these species, and they are striving to reintroduce these fish back into their natural habitat.
The Mexican Ark project is an excellent example of this, The Goodie Study Group.
We must work together to stop the depletion of our natural resources, and I agree with Matt, stop purchasing animals that will soon go extinct in the wild due to our failures as humans, but at the same time we must take our love and passion for our hobby, and globally work together to reestablish and clean up the destoyed habitat then reintroduce the fish back into the wild.
These steps are all being taken and rather succesful for eagles and the california condor, mountain sheep, the benegal tigers, why not for fish.

Woody

[dpatte]

We have many qualified people in our club whose input would be useful

im often working out of the country, but I'd like to get this topic into action. As I often host the Christmas party, perhaps I could call a meeting on this to be held the same day, but earlier.

Ill starting working with the executive on a date for the Christmas party then bring it back here to see who is interested in joining the ovas red list committee. .

[mseguin]

Very good idea dpatte.
What I was saying about WCMM also applies to cherry barbs. As far as I know, very raely are cherry babrbs imprted from the wild, due to how easy they are to breed (relatively speaking). I would never discourage people from owning cherry barbs (I myself have 2 and would like to breed them eventually) unless they were wild caught. However, I do now and then see wild caught seahorses, which is just plain irrespnsible.
I would also like to point out that the aquarium hobby is often unfairly targeted for fish endangerment. The fact is, responsible importation is actually good for conservation efforts. It's when the populations area already hurt, usually by habitat loss or fragmentation, that importing for aquariums can do some real damage.

[NjOyRiD]

is there something we could do?! its just so sad!
I just saw Red tail black sharp were in dangered too!!

there most be more fish then the list that are in instect too right?

[mseguin]

Red Tail sharks are extinct, so there's not much we can do at this point other than keep them in aquariums. Yes, there was a whole wackload of extinct species I left off, mostly from Lake Victoria.

[dpatte]

i believe that there are alot of killiefish that are extinct in the wild as well.

[Sue]

I read a good article on White clouds in a TFH recently. (from a 2004 back issue). It confirmed they are still considered extinct in the wild. It appears the aquarium trade has saved this fish from extinction.  The article also described a new wcmm species that has  been discovered. I think it was in Vietnam-but I could be wrong. I imagine that species is also at minimum threatened.

[mseguin]

Did a quick search on the redlist, and they list 95 species as extinct or extinct in the wild: 1 catfish, 16 cyprinids, 2 sturgeon populations, 50 cichlids (all in Africa, 46 in L. Victoria), 4 goodeids, 4 salmonids, only 1 killifish, and 4 livebearers.
I think with the killies its many of te subspecies or subpopulations have become extirpated, but the species still survive.

[maitre007]

Welcome to the 21st century where soon all the rhinos, tigers, birds, fishes will all be extinct except for those in a cage or an aquarium.

I was watching the Daily Show this week which has fueled my anti  Bush sentiment but isn't funny how the same people that talk about how marijuana should be illegal  are the same people that talk about how Darwin's theory on evolution is voodoo science.  

And there isn't a climate change destroying a lot of the habitant of the species listed in this thread.  And that climate change is not man made.

I guess another city in the United States will need to be destroyed by a hurricane to heeth on what is the obvious.

[BigDaddy]

Okay, I've read that about 5 times now... and still none of it is making any sense to me.

[mseguin]

No, climate change is not really what's responsible for habitat loss. In fact, in many cases climate change is increasing the ranges of many species. What's causing the problem is habitat fragmentation and habitat loss by man. Not Bush in particular, it's been going on for a long long time. Regardless of political affiliations or opinions, the fact is that the natural wolrd is being polluted and destroyed at a very scary rate.