By Corryn Wetzel
The species of darter is about 3 centimetres long.
Willian M. Ohara and Murilo N.L. Pastana.
Two new species of fish in the Amazon may be doomed to extinction.
He didn't know what they would find when they searched for fish in less explored regions of the Amazon river basin. A few days into their expedition, Pastana pulled a net from the water and was surprised to see orange fish in the plastic nets. He had never seen a fish with long, reddish fins and a dark spot in front of the tail.
Pastana says they knew right away that the fish was different.
The 3-centimetre-long fish was plucked from a stream in Brazil. The researchers combed the surrounding area to see if the fish lived elsewhere. They found a second fish species among the tree roots of a muddy stream bank. Pastana says there are two.
The new specimen shared the same yellow-brown color as other fish species in the area. The team named the fish after its apparent love for the roots.
The individuals of the rhizophilus are just 2 centimetres long.
Willian M. Ohara and Murilo N.L. Pastana.
Both fish are in the same group of small freshwater fish known as South American darters. The species are the first additions in 50 years.
Pastana and his colleagues went back to the area in 2016 and found that P. callipterus was limited to a single stream with 4 square kilometres of habitat. P. rhizophilus had a range of around 50 square kilometres.
In the six years since that exhibition, the forest home of the two fish species has been destroyed to make way for crops and gold mining, all of which decimate native flora and fauna.
Pastana fears that even a small amount of human development could destroy the habitat of P. callipterus.
Sometimes when we arrive in a region, it is on fire because they have to clear the forest for livestock.
Pastana admits it will be an uphill battle to get legal protections for the fish. He thinks the larger, brighter P. callipterus may find a home among aquarium enthusiasts.
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