RE: NANFA-- over-collecting?

Jay DeLong (thirdwind_at_att.net)
Wed, 29 Aug 2001 10:38:33 -0700

> > There is so little collecting going on anywhere anyway. NA natives will
> > never catch on as aquarium fishes, except for killifishes and
> > livebearers (some of which HAVE suffered from over-collecting).
>
>
> Jay,
>
> I'm not as up on livebearers and killies as I should. Which species have
> suffered from over-collecting?

I shouldn't have said that without the facts. It came from an earlier
discussion on this list that is missing some of the facts. I don't recall
the population, but a Phoenix pet store owner removed a genetically unique
population of Gambusia from a desert spring or stream some years back.
There is a written account of this in some publication, which I have read
myself but can't recall the source or species.

I think we can generally all agree that rare species which easy to rear in
aquaria, like livebearers and killies, and which are confined to limited
areas, would be collected to extinction if not protected.

--
Jay DeLong
Olympia, WA
"If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do
not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts?
To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent
tinkering."
~ Aldo Leopold (1953)

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