Mekong giant catfish threatened

This is a Mekong giant catfish video.

And this is another one.

July 2010. Wild populations of the iconic Mekong giant catfish will be driven to extinction if hydropower dams planned for the Mekong River go ahead, says a new report by WWF: here.

At least 50 migratory species are vulnerable to dam development – 40-70% of fish caught in the Mekong: here.

New species from the wild Mekong; photos here.

Wood-eating catfish discovered in Peru: here.

Glyptothorax chimtuipuiensis, a new species of catfish (Sisoridae) from India: here.

From the Underwater Times:

BELEM, Brazil — A series of expeditions to explore the unknown biodiversity of the forests of the northern margin of the Amazon River in Brazil yielded a new species of catfish, researchers from Brazil announced today. Published in the journal Zootaxa in January, the discovery was made in a tributary of the Amazon River, in the northern state of Pará, at the heart of the world’s largest block of protected rainforest, which covers four million hectares.

Named after the Mayan word “Ix”, which is a term used to describe jaguars, the new fish, Stenolicnus ix, differs from other species of the same genus by the length of the nasal barbels, or the slender, whisker-like tactile organs extending from the mouth.

Brazilian ichthyologists have described a new species of spotted Pimelodus catfish from the Ribeira de Iguape River drainage in southern Brazil: here.