Zoogoneticus tequila

Appearance

The sexes can also be distinguished by colouration. Adult males have cream-colored terminal bands on the anal and dorsal fin. The caudal fin of adult males has crescent-shaped band of red-orange, orange, or yellow.

Males are smaller than females, with standard length up to 4.1 cm (1.6 in) in males and up to 5.8 cm (2.3 in) in females.

Range and habitat

Zoogoneticus tequila is endemic to the Ameca River basin in west-central Mexico. Its current distribution is restricted to a single spring pool in Teuchitlán, only 4 metres (13 ft) in diameter, where a population consisting of less than 50 adult fish found in the early 2000s. Before the discovery of the pool population in 2000/2001, Z. Tequila was generally thought to inhabit rivers. Even so, no fish could be found in the original habitat and the species was considered extinct in the wild.

After a few successful reintroductions of Z. Tequila in the wild became established, the International Union for Conservation of Nature declared this species endangered.

Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.

Diet

Much of the wild diet and eating patterns of Z. Tequila are inferred from congeners such as Z. Quitzeoensis, that consists of amphipods, insects, ostracods, and detritus. In their existing location in the spring pool, Z. Tequila fish typically eat various zooplankton and insect larvae, with chironomid larvae being most popular.

In crisis

Z. Tequila, one of these 36 species, has a very limited population endemic to Mexico. DNA analysis of natural populations of Z. Tequila have shown that because the populations are extremely small, there is a large amount of inbreeding that could be contributing to the precipitous decline in populations in the wild. Since the wild population was declared extinct nearly twenty years ago, this opportunity is nonexistent.

Instead of using species from the wild, recent efforts by scientists beginning in 1998 have been able to replenish the declining population within the river through breeding the fish in labs. Beyond simply reintroducing the species and allowing a larger population to reach replenishment, it is also important to consider the causes behind the endangered species to begin with.

Zoogoneticus tequila is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.

Sources

Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Zoogoneticus tequila, Wikidata item Q5492268. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.