Dorado Catfish. Photo by Michael Goulding. Learn More
Asked to name the fish with the longest migration... salmon and steelhead, European eel and paddlefish might come to mind, but the current recognized freshwater champion is the Amazon’s dorado catfish (Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii). The species has been documented to travel almost 7,200 miles up and down the Amazon River—an epic, exclusively freshwater, life-cycle journey stretching nearly the entire width of the South America continent.
The dorado catfish is just one species of the more than 35,000 known species of fishes. And like the Dorado Catfish, the majority of species (51 percent) are found in freshwater, the subject of World Wildlife Fund’s The World’s Forgotten Fishes.
Rivers, lakes and wetlands are among the most biodiverse places on earth. They cover less than one per cent of the planet’s total surface, yet they’re home to almost a quarter of all vertebrate species – including over half of all the world’s fish species. And more are being discovered all the time.
But few people have any idea of the unimaginable diversity that swims below the surface of the world’s freshwater ecosystems or how critical these undervalued and overlooked freshwater fishes are to the health of people and nature around the world.
WWF and the 15 NGOs and alliances that signed up to this report are championing an Emergency Recovery Plan for freshwater biodiversity and taking action to reverse decades of decline. Developed by scientists and freshwater experts from across the world, this practical six-pillared plan is based on sound science and real experience – each pillar has been implemented in different parts of the world:
1. Let rivers flow more naturally;
2.Improve water quality in freshwater ecosystems;
3. Protect and restore critical habitats;
4. End overfishing and unsustainable sand mining in rivers and lakes;
5. Prevent and control invasions by non-native species, and;
6. Protect free-flowing rivers and remove obsolete dams.
