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Cuban Biologists Fight to Save 140-Million-Year-Old Fish
Cuban biologists breed the 140-million-year-old Cuban gar in hatcheries to counter habitat loss, hunting, and invasive predators threatening the species listed as critically endangered by IUCN.
- At a hatchery near the Zapata Swamp, Andres Hurtado's team breeds finicky manjuarí and releases captive-bred juveniles into the wetland to boost the ailing population.
- The IUCN lists the manjuarí as critically endangered since 2020 due to centuries of exploitation, habitat loss, and the 1999 introduction of the African Walking Catfish.
- Hurtado calls the gar a biological relic, `They`re a biological relic that has lived 140 or 150 million years,` while pencil-sized young manjuarí hide in mangrove roots and vanish quickly.
- Scientists report early signs the captive releases may be helping, and Eduardo Abreu said, `Local fishermen tell us the manjuari are here`, indicating an established population.
- Field conditions — mosquitoes and remoteness — complicate progress checks, as isolation and supply shortages hinder monitoring in the mosquito-ridden Zapata Swamp, the Caribbean's largest intact wetland.
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13 Articles
13 Articles
The endangered manjuari is a species that is up to 150 million years old.
·Finland
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources13
Leaning Left1Leaning Right2Center6Last UpdatedBias Distribution67% Center
Bias Distribution
- 67% of the sources are Center
67% Center
11%
C 67%
R 22%
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