Residents of a small town in western Mexico are celebrating the reintroduction into the wild of the tequila fish — an endemic species saved from the brink of extinction.
The fish, whose scientific name is Zoogoneticus Tequila, was rescued in the 1990s by US and British conservationists who kept it in aquariums and helped it return to its original habitat in the Teuchitlan river.
Children in Teuchitlan, home to about 10,000 people, have been at the forefront of efforts to inform visitors not only about the importance of keeping their habitat clean, but also about the tequila fish.
Photo: AFP
“The children are the ones who approach people on the river bank and tell them that in this river lives a little fish that is unique in the world ... and that they participated in its reintroduction,” said Consuelo Rivera, a 70-year-old retired teacher.
The tequila fish was reported to be extinct in 1998, possibly due to fragmentation of its habitat, pollution and competition from non-native species, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said.
The species survived only in captivity for several years until conservationists, led by Michoacan University, began the process in 2014 to reintroduce it into the wild.
Since then the fish has gone from strength to strength, helped by the last major release of fish in 2018, project leader Omar Dominguez said.
The tequila fish grows to about 7cm and the male has a bright reddish-orange tail.
It shares the name of the world-renowned Mexican liquor originating in the town of Tequila, which, like Teuchitlan, is in the state of Jalisco.
The species has unique characteristics, such as giving birth to well-developed fetuses, which it feeds through a kind of umbilical cord similar to that of humans, Dominguez said.
“It’s an important part of the ecosystem. It’s a carnivorous species and it feeds, for example, on mosquito larvae, which keeps ecosystems healthy for humans,” he added.
There are now estimated to be 1,500 to 2,000 tequila fish in the wild and the species is listed as endangered by the IUCN.
The civil society group Guardians of the River carries out educational campaigns and workshops for children and adults to show them the flora and fauna of the area.
Tourism also plays an important role in the initiative.
Local visitors bathe in spa pools around the river said to have therapeutic properties, and swim with the fish — also known as gallito (little rooster) because of its colorful tail.
“There are a lot of little fish. They swim together with people and sometimes the little fish also start to bite people, to caress them,” said Maria Aurea Martinez, a spa employee.
Jaime Navel, a local parish priest, sees the species as “the little fish that was resurrected, that came back to life.”
“There’s awe and joy in the community,” he said.
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
RSS