Ameca from Sayula?
Submitted by illustrator on 27. May 2012 - 19:09
Hi all, Is the recently discovered strain of Ameca splendens from Sayula really lost or did someone collect a few to start breeding? I understand that the locality was kept secret because of S. francesae, and this might have been fatal for this strain of A. splendens, which is hardly less endangered ... I feel that A. splendens is too often considered "relatively common in the hobby = less interesting", considering it's highly endangered status in the wild. Paul
Forums:
Hi Paul, I wrote to Omar
Hi Paul,
I wrote to Omar Domínguez before, if he is knowing someone having saved them or if they have this population in the Aqualab.
Yes, might have been fatal, but the situation of the Cuyacapán spring is not cleared in detail, may have happened, that all the species went down into the stony ground. We have to wait for more information, but in the worst case, all species there (as far as I know, besides the 2 additionally Zoogoneticus purhepechus) might have gone.
You may be right with your estimation of the situation: Common species are not treated in the same way like rare species, however, in this case, both species are rare ones, but "unfortunately" Ameca is in good stocks, whereas the as-thought-to-have-died-out-species francesae, and I think, it will be this species, that has been rediscovered there, is in not so good stocks. The misfortune for Ameca has been the francesae in this spring...
Nevertheless, I hope that stocks of this population have survived, and I will tackle the opportunity to alert all keepers of Goodeids:
NO species is save!!! Please, what ever you keep, go on keeping it, especially the so-called common species!! Too many have gone forever, and even captive stocks become reduced!! E.g. : The population of Neotoca bilineata "Colonia Guadalupe": extirpated; Skiffia multipunctata "Lago de Cemécuaro": vanished; Allotoca meeki: probably gone; Characodon audax "Puente Pino Suarez: bound to dy in nature; even the "good old" Xenotoca eiseni: wild stocks are reduced to a handful, including the San Marcos-species as well as the population/species from the Rio Tamazula: Please: keep your old eiseni-strain, your old Ameca splendens strain, your old Ilyodon, Chapalichthys pardalis and Characodon lateralis!! Please: do not substitute them by new populations with location data: your fish could be the last jewels of a gone strain!!!
Mike