They find in Bolivia a fish that survives out of the water and that changes its way of breathing

A new species of fish was discovered in Bolivia by the researcher Heinz Arno Drawert and is considered very “special” for its ability to voluntarily get out of the water, spend hours outdoors and change its way of breathing to a skin like that of the amphibians.

This is Moema juanderibaensis, the new species of fish for science that is part of the Rivulidae family, which Drawert saw for the first time in the 1990s in the town of Santa Rosa del Sara, in the eastern region of Santa Cruz. , and that almost two decades later managed to investigate.

Drawert told EFE that in 2018 he began extensive research on Rivulidae fish in the country as an associate researcher at the “Noel Kempff Mercado” Museum of Natural History and after intense work over several years in 2022 his research on this fish was published in the Neotropical Ichthyology journal, one of the most recognized fish research journals.

This peculiar fish reaches about five centimeters; its body is greenish lead and has a pattern of colored dots; the fins, mainly the tail, is showy and large, and lives in puddles or certain temporary water ecosystems that are known as “curichis“, that “they are inside the mountainDrawert said.

Characteristics

One of the main characteristics of this fish is “the adaptation of their eggs”since they remain buried in the mud and can be “for long periods” without water, because the puddles dry up in days or weeks, and they can “survive” until about two to three years in that state.

“Their eggs can withstand drought and they bury their eggs at the bottom of the puddle of water, in the mud or dirt, and they leave them there and the puddle can dry up, but nothing happens to the eggs”, commented the researcher who is also a member of the Killifish Foundation, dedicated to fish research.

Furthermore, Drawert observed that when these fish are adults they come out “voluntarily out of the water” and they catch on leaves or on top of plants and can be there for several hours.

The researcher managed to observe it in that situation for four hours and it usually happens when they feel threatened by the presence of other fish.

He also noticed that these fish “change the type of breathing”, which explains their resistance out of the water, since they go from using the gills to the “skin respiration”, which is characteristic of amphibians.

These little fish are “very sensitive to changes in their habitat” What are they “well-preserved mountains”and when there is some type of intervention in the place, such as clearing or machinery entering, the fish disappear, and the eggs cannot bear too hot places without shade.

“The last 20 to 30 years there was a huge expansion of clearings, much of the habitat no longer exists, we can easily say that 60 to 70% of its natural habitat disappearedDrawert emphasized.

Although he pointed out that there is hope for its conservation, since it is necessary to create “protected micro-areas” in a small space for its preservation.

Source: EFE