A zoo has started a breeding program for a Mexican fish species believed to be extinct in the wild.
Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire says conservationists have told him its own boxer cub is the last species in the world.
The species is native to Lake Chichancanab in Mexico, but experts there believe the local population has been decimated.
Fifty Boxer hatchlings have been moved to the Bristol Zoo Project to try to create a ‘back-up’ population.
Whipsnade is run by the Zoological Society of London and its assistant curator of fish Alex Cliffe said: “It was a very sobering moment to find out that the last remaining wild boxer fry had gone extinct, but we knew we didn’t have time to sit still and had to act quickly to secure the future of this species.”
The extinction of the boxer pups at Lake Chichancanab, in Yacatan state near the Caribbean Sea, could endanger other local predators such as bird species and reptiles.
Brian Zimmerman, director of conservation and science at the Bristol Zoological Society, said: “By increasing the numbers of boxer fry in more than one institution, we will ensure the species’ survival even if it is lost in the wild.”
The small fish eggs were collected from Whipsnade with bundles of wool, to simulate plants in which they would normally lay their eggs.
They were then taken out and transferred to their new location in Bristol in jars filled with water.
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