{"id":8975,"date":"2024-10-22T11:38:03","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T11:38:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/22\/scientists-feared-this-huge-ghost-fish-was-extinct-it-was-just-seen-after-almost-20-years\/"},"modified":"2024-10-22T11:38:03","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T11:38:03","slug":"scientists-feared-this-huge-ghost-fish-was-extinct-it-was-just-seen-after-almost-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/22\/scientists-feared-this-huge-ghost-fish-was-extinct-it-was-just-seen-after-almost-20-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists feared this huge \u2018ghost\u2019 fish was extinct. It was just seen after almost 20 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

When scientists heard reports that a large, mysterious fish had been caught in Cambodia in 2020, excitement stirred. Could this be the \u201cMekong Ghost,\u201d they asked – an elusive fish that hadn\u2019t been seen <\/strong>since 2005 and was feared extinct? <\/p>\n

Photos of the fish and its telltale identifiers \u2013 an odd-shaped mouth and a protruding knob at its jaw \u2013 seemed to confirm it. <\/p>\n

But the fish, which can grow as large as 66 pounds, was sold before scientists could get a closer look. It didn\u2019t \u201cfeel like definitive proof,\u201d said Zeb Hogan, a research biologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, and head of the US government-funded Wonders of the Mekong project, an initiative to study and conserve one of the most biodiverse rivers in the world. <\/p>\n

Three years later, they struck gold. <\/p>\n

Cambodian fishermen caught two fish in the Mekong River, measuring between 11 and 13 pounds and two to three feet long. This time researchers were able to purchase and examine the fish for themselves. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as anyone who was part of this search for this fish saw the photos, we knew what it was.\u201d <\/p>\n

The researchers published their findings on Tuesday in a study in the Biological Conservation journal. <\/p>\n

It was a moment of celebration for the team, which works to protect the Mekong, one of the world\u2019s longest rivers and a lifeline to tens of millions of people. <\/p>\n

Meaning \u201cMother of Rivers\u201d in Thai and Lao languages, the Mekong winds through multiple Southeast Asian countries and is extremely rich in biodiversity. <\/strong>But it <\/strong>also faces various challenges including hydropower development, overfishing and habitat degradation. <\/p>\n

These challenges are why scientists have long worried that the \u201cMekong Ghost,\u201d a critically endangered giant salmon carp that can measure up to four feet long, could have been quietly wiped out as years passed without a sighting. <\/p>\n

Shrouded in mystery<\/h2>\n

The fish, native to the Mekong, has been shrouded in mystery since it was formally named in 1991. Since then, fewer than 30 individuals have been recorded, <\/strong>making it a highly rare species, according to a press release from the University of Nevada, Reno. <\/p>\n

Hogan\u2019s team of researchers \u2013 who also study other species and parts of the Mekong\u2019s environment \u2013 have kept an eye out for the giant salmon carp, perusing fish markets and doing outreach programs with local fishermen. Hogan himself, who has dedicated much of his career to <\/strong>studying fish in the Mekong River Basin, has only seen it once in the early 2000s. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been looking for it since then, kind of fascinated by it because it\u2019s a very unusual giant fish,\u201d Hogan said. \u201cI thought it was probably extinct, and so to hear that it had been found again \u2013 I\u2019ve been waiting 20 years for that news.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a sign of hope,\u201d he added. \u201cIt means that it\u2019s not too late.\u201d <\/p>\n

The study\u2019s lead author, Bunyeth Chan from Cambodia\u2019s Svay Rieng University, echoed this sentiment, saying in a press release: \u201cThe rediscovery of the giant salmon carp is a reason for hope, not just for this species but for the entire Mekong ecosystem.\u201d <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot researchers still don\u2019t know, like how many giant salmon carp actually exist or where those populations reside. <\/p>\n

The three fish that were found between 2020 and 2023 were found outside their normal range \u2013 which could either mean there are more fish living in areas previously unknown or that they migrated there <\/strong>from neighboring Laos and Thailand. <\/p>\n

And though it\u2019s unusual to find three individual fish in quick succession after the species disappeared for nearly two decades, Hogan credits this to the work they\u2019ve been doing on the ground \u2013 building good relationships with local communities who know to contact them if they spot anything out of the ordinary. <\/p>\n

But researchers say more needs to be done as the Mekong fights off threats from various fronts, including climate change, with the region facing more severe flooding and drought each year as a result. <\/p>\n

Human projects such as hydropower dams and sand mining have further degraded marine habitats and disrupted life for the Mekong\u2019s more than 1,100 fish species, many of which are found nowhere else on Earth. <\/p>\n

Nearly a fifth of the Mekong\u2019s fish are threatened with extinction, according to a report released in March this year, a collaboration between 25 organizations including the World Wildlife Fund and Wonders of the Mekong. <\/p>\n

Cambodia is also not an easy place to be an environmental activist. Many have been jailed or killed over the years as they seek to raise awareness about corruption and business projects that have impacted the environment in a nation where little political opposition is tolerated. <\/p>\n

Earlier this year, 10 young activists from the group Mother Nature Cambodia were sentenced to up to six years in prison, each on charges of conspiring against the state, a conviction that was condemned by opposition politicians in exile and prominent youth environmentalist Greta Thunberg. <\/p>\n

Researchers behind the latest report hope the giant salmon carp\u2019s rediscovery can build momentum for more study and conservation action \u2013 including creating an international team across Cambodia, Laos and Thailand to further study the \u201cMekong Ghost.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThis fish is an indicator of river health because it\u2019s a large fish, it\u2019s vulnerable,\u201d said Hogan. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s also emblematic of all of these other fish that occur in the area that are key fishery species and that are very important for people\u2019s livelihoods, and very important for people\u2019s nutrition and food.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When scientists heard reports that a large, mysterious fish had been caught in Cambodia in 2020, excitement stirred. Could this be the \u201cMekong Ghost,\u201d they asked – an elusive fish that hadn\u2019t been seen since 2005 and was feared extinct? Photos of the fish and its telltale identifiers \u2013 an odd-shaped mouth and a protruding <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8976,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8975","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}