L046 population in the wild

Vik · Post by **Vik** » 07 May 2003, 00:37

I was reading in another forum that L046 may be endangered in the wild. Is this true? Does anyone know for sure what their situation is??

ClayT101 · Post by **ClayT101** » 07 May 2003, 06:45

I don't know if they are endangered or not, but I have heard that imported specimans are not as large as they used to be. One a positive note, it seems as though many hobbiests are having success breeding this fish in captivity, so hopefully, soon it will no longer be necessary to import these fish. Unfortunately, though, they do not produce enough fry to make it a commercially reproducable fish.

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 07 May 2003, 20:11

Hi!

I don't know if it is endengered but the fact to be present in one river ( Rio Xingu) make the fish vulnerable to any sort of problem ( habitat modification, pollution, overfishing)...
It is also not very clear under what range on the Rio Xingu you can find him.
Now the big issue regarding such information is to see all the implication of such thing, biological of course but also economic, if H.Z. suddenly become protected under Brasilian low it will raise the value of the fish.
Suppose that only bred fish are authorized for exportation but not wild caught...
H. z. has become such an emblematic fish that about any person who have seen one, almost immediatly want one.
Sure the exploitation of H.z. is something to think about as an estimation of the population is rather hard to give, and so many fish are being exported everyday around the world and how important is this pressure on the wild population is something msotly supposed...

I have being tell by a good friend of mine that the IBAMA is considering moving H. z. under protected species. Brasilian laws are very strict regarding their fauna and flora and both ecological and economical matters are taken in account for these laws

Hope to have sort of clear this out. Of course these information should be taken as only supposition as so far no confirmation has been given by the IBAMA

Cheers
Yann

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 08 May 2003, 08:59

Hi!

When i read through the Welsatlas by SEIDEL/EVERS i imagine overfishing of this species as very difficult just by their habitat. The Welsatlas states that only experienced divers can catch L46 because of the turbulences and fast flow. Just by my impression very many f1 zebras are showing up on our market in germany.

Steen · Post by **Steen** » 08 May 2003, 20:25

Hi I was resently told that there was found gold in Xingu, and it could be bad (for the fishes) according to the use of quicksilver(?) in the proces of getting all the gold out of the sediment. Just heard this from a Aqua-dealer so I personally don't know much about the subject or the area. Maybe somebody knows more?

PauloSR · Post by **PauloSR** » 10 May 2003, 22:12

Yes. Itâ??s true that was found gold in the Xingu River, inclusively many fishermen in this moment prefer â??fishingâ?