Allotoca - Mesa Central

Allotoca – Mesa Central

  The Mesa Central in Mexico is the stronghold of the fish family Goodeidae, the Splitfins. About three-fourths of the 40 species live in this 250.000km² large area. Coincidentally this region is the centre of Mexican agriculture and the location of a great number of industrial plants. Fertilizers, pesticides, industrial wastewater, the water requirements of big cities and the repopulation of rivers with non-native fish and crayfish caused a massive decline of the indigenous fish populations during the last two decades. For some species this resulted in a population decrease of 75%, others lost a large share of their habitat. This process is still going on.

  The genus Allotoca with seven and its sister genus Neoophorus with one species belong to the most seriously affected representatives of the whole family. Allotoca goslinei disappeared completely from its sole known habitat around the turn of the millennium and is now kept only in aquariums. Allotoca diazi and meeki can nowadays be found only at a small fringe of their former huge distribution areas and the remainders of the two species Allotoca maculata and Neoophorus regalis suffer severely from the pollution of their biotopes. Allotoca catarinae and zacapuensis seem to have quite stable stocks, nevertheless they are restricted to two river sections in the vicinity of a big city in case of the first species and to a lake and an isolated spring in the second. Only Allotoca dugesii still seems to have a large range of distribution, however the species is split into at least four genetically isolated populations and the biggest percentage of their known habitats show a low density of individuals. Pollution, eutrophication and non-native fish lead to population losses even for this species of more than 75%.

  This paints a gloomy picture of the future of both genera, therefore it has been decided to start a conservation project for this group of Splitfins. Taking into account that running a project for eight species can be very costly for one person, it has been decided to split this project into two subprojects. One is called Lined Allotoca and Neoophorus Project (LANP) and includes Allotoca dugesii, goslinei, maculata and Neoophorus regalis, the second one Banded Allotoca Project (BAP) for Allotoca catarinae, diazi, meeki and zacapuensis. Each subproject is run by a project manager and a project manager deputy. The goal is on reach a constant stock of at least 400 specimens per species and have this stock distributed to at least 10 different participants. As soon as this target number is surpassed by 20% (80 individuals), this surplus is permitted to be distributed to third parties. Who is permitted to distribute how many fish is up to the decision of the subproject management. The corresponding participants will be personally addressed by the subproject management with a precise instruction. This does not mean this surplus has to be given away, it just opens the possibility for the addressed participant. On the other hand, the falling below 70% of the target number (remaining less than 280 specimens) causes an appeal for intense breeding activities to rebuild the stock numbers. Annual stock estimations form the basis for the decisions and instructions given by the subproject management.

  The justification for including these eight species in an ÖVVÖ conservation project is clearly given through their threat status dedicated by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). In alphabetical order:

Allotoca catarinae: Critically Endangered (CR)    https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/191694/47097611

Allotoca diazi: Critically Endangered (CR)    https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/169372/1274613

Allotoca dugesii: Endangered (EN)    https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/191695/1998425

Allotoca goslinei: Extinct in the Wild (EW)    https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/191696/1998432

Allotoca maculata: Critically Endangered (CR)    https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/881/3147389

Allotoca meeki: Critically Endangered (CR)    https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/191697/1998439

Allotoca zacapuensis: Critically Endangered (CR)    https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/191699/1998453

Neoophorus regalis: Critically Endangered (CR)    https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/191698/1998446

  All of these species are comprised by only one evolutionary significant unit (ESU) meaning that we find only one phylogenetical lineage within these species, except for Allotoca maculata where two ESU’s are stated and Allotoca dugesii with four. All of these ESU’s are treated like separate species so they should be kept separately and the number of 400 individuals should be reached for all of them separately. So far, only one ESU of Allotoca maculata (Allma2) is in cultivationa and two of Allotoca dugesii (Alldu 1 and Alldu4). For more precise information about the ESU’s (distribution, threat status, aso) of the single species, please go to the GWG webpage (www.goodeidworkinggroup.com). This goes the same for information about the species, the husbandry recommendations and additional information:

Allotoca catarinae: http://www.goodeidworkinggroup.com/allotoca-catarinae

Allotoca diazi: http://www.goodeidworkinggroup.com/allotoca-diazi

Allotoca dugesii: http://www.goodeidworkinggroup.com/allotoca-dugesii

Allotoca goslinei: http://www.goodeidworkinggroup.com/allotoca-goslinei

Allotoca maculata: http://www.goodeidworkinggroup.com/allotoca-maculata

Allotoca meeki: http://www.goodeidworkinggroup.com/allotoca-meeki

Allotoca zacapuensis: http://www.goodeidworkinggroup.com/allotoca-zacapuensis

Neoophorus regalis: http://www.goodeidworkinggroup.com/neoophorus-regalis

Allotoca-Mesa Central, Lined Allotoca and Neoophorus (LANP)

project manager: Jože Vrbančič (SLO)           Email: joze.vrbancic@gmail.com

project manager deputy: Fabien Liberge (FRA)  Email:fabienliberge@orange.fr

Allotoca-Mesa Central, Banded Allotoca (BAP)

project manager: Torsten Friedrich (GER)      Email: t.friedrich@conservation.oevvoe.org

project manager deputy: Márk Liziczai (HUN)  Email: klg.goodeid@gmail.com

project member
Matej Bincl (SLO)    Henrik van Bennekom (NLD)    Detlev Bork (GER)  
Gabriele Calì (ITA)    Tamara Canalejas - Bristol Zoo Garden (GBR)    Kell Eradus (NLD)  
Benedikt Feldmann (GER)    Torsten Friedrich (GER)     Tamás Gergácz (HUN)    Arjan de Graaf (NLD)  
Jan Hammelmann (GER)    Melinda Kállai - SÓSTÓ Zoo (HUN)    Nigel Hunter (GBR)    René Jüttner (GER)  
Rafael Kölzer (POR)    Helga Kury (AUT)    Fabien Liberge (FRA)    Holger Liedtke (GER)    Milan Murko (SLK)
Mihnea Moraru (ROU)    Chris Neal (USA)    Kevin Neves - Bowling Green State University (USA) 
Michael Köck - Haus des Meeres (AUT)    Kossuth Lajos Gimnázium Goodeid Projekt (HUN)  
Ken Jarle Olsen (DEN)    Andrew Piorkowski (USA)    Marko Ravnik (SLO)    Gary Randall (GBR)  
Greg Roebuck (GBR)    Gertjan Roozeboom (NLD)    Michael Schulze (GER)    Felix Stadtfeld (GER)   
Shaun Stevens - Tropiquaria Zoo (GBR)    Hannah Thomas - Chester Zoo (GBR)    Andreas Tveteraas (NOR)  
Dávid Urbányi (HUN)    Ronny Vannerom (BEL)    Tiago Vieira (POR)     Jože Vrbančič (SLO)   
Sebastian Wolf (GER)    Miran Zupevc (SLO)

project-email: contact-allotoca@conservation.oevvoe.org

project partner