This fish was extinct in 2003, but now the species has returned to populate the rivers in Mexico thanks to the success of targeted breeding projects.
That of the Zoogoneticus tequila - tequila fish, whose name derives from the Mexican volcano Volcán de Tequila where the animal was first spotted, is a rare story with a happy ending which surprised everyone precisely because unfortunately it does not happen frequently in the scientific field. This tiny species that does not exceed 70mm in length had been declared extinct in 2003 due to the pollution of Mexican rivers and intensive fishing and despite a conservation program for the species inaugurated in 1998, the only specimens still existing at the time were those in some aquariums around the world.
However, the rapid extinction of tequila fish had prompted a researcher, Omar Domínguez, to present in 2012 a project for the reproduction of Zoogoneticus tequila in captivity which involved some entities including the Chester Zoo which owned some tequila fish. The then student of Michoacana University - where Domínguez is currently a researcher - had built an artificial lake in the university garden that would reproduce as much as possible the habitat of the fish including predatory species and parasites.
Here he had bred 40 male and 40 female tequila fish that had to face the dangers of their natural environment recreated in the pond in order to survive and so it was. In four years Tequila fish increased from 80 to 10.000 and Domínguez released 1500 into the Teuchitlán River gradually over more springs.
This is a project that now constitutes an important precedent for the future conservation of the country's numerous fish species that are threatened or even extinct in nature "
said Omar Domínguez proudly commenting on his project that in 15 years it brought back to life a species considered extinct.
To date, thanks to this project, the IUCN has updated the situation of Tequila fish from extinct to endangered.
The demonstration that we can reverse course and that animals can readjust into the wild if reintroduced at the right time and in the right environments.
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