Fish on brink of extinction gets boost thanks to zoo

The Mangarahara cichlid was down to last three known individuals, all male, until ZSL London Zoo’s worldwide plea led to discovery of tiny school of fish

 by David Strege

The near-extinct Mangarahara cichlid gets boost with discovery of a tiny school in the wild; photo courtesy of ZSL London Zoo

A critically endangered fish species just might have been saved from extinction thanks to a worldwide appeal by the ZSL London Zoo.
The fish called the Mangarahara cichlid (Ptychochromis insolitus) was believed to have been lost in the wild due to deforestation and river diversions drying up its native habitat of the Mangarahara River in Madagascar.
The last three known individual fish—all male—were residing in aquariums, with two at the ZSL London Zoo and the third at the Berlin Zoo.
In May 2013, the ZSL London Zoo put out a desperate plea in a wanted poster to find a female “for [a] vital conservation breeding programme to save a species.”
Hundreds of private aquarium owners, fish collectors, and scientists reached out to the zoo’s aquarium curator, Brian Zimmerman, offering up advice and support. One response happened to be a tip from a farm and business owner in Madagascar who had seen the fish in a secluded northern Madagascan town.
The ZSL London Zoo announced Friday that its exploratory expedition proved successful when a team visited a tiny village on the edge of what used to be a tributary from the Mangarahara River and discovered the last remaining Mangarahara cichlids in the wild.
“We weren’t holding out much hope of finding any fish in the wild, as so much of the Mangarahara River now resembles the desert because of deforestation and intensive agricultural use,” Zimmerman said.
“These cichlids have shown remarkable survival skills, and managed to find one of the very last remaining water sources to live in, but their numbers are tiny and the non-flowing water is not an ideal habitat for them. We’re now doing all we can to protect these remaining fish.”

A female Mangarahara cichlid

The team moved 18 Mangarahara cichlids, including females, to a private aquaculture facility in Madagascar until a conservation plan can be developed to save the fish from extinction. It won’t be easy, however.
Scientific American tells us why: “Male cichlids have an annoying tendency to kill females rather than mate with them, so breeding is not guaranteed, but it’s a heck of a lot more likely now that the known population isn’t entirely male.”
Indeed. At least now there is hope.