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| ▲ Source = Flickr |
Colonial fishes (colpichthys hubbsi) inhabiting the Colorado River Delta in the United States are on the verge of extinction.
The region has grown rapidly over the past 80 years. The original Colorado River was used to supply water for 40 million people and 1.6 million hectares of cropland, and salty tides remained in the deltas.
The rivers that flowed to the downstream were trapped in the upstream dam, and the deltas in the region lost their ability to supply fresh water. As a result, the breeding species of purebred serpentine have mated with other species living in seawater, and the number of hybrid shrubs has increased.
Professor David Jacobs, a professor of evolutionary biology at UCLA, said, "Crossbreeding is a threat to endangered species by causing the loss of the identity of a purebred fish." In the Colorado River Delta where habitat has changed, the number of purebred fish has rapidly declined.
"This is a worldwide ecological loss," he added. "There is an urgent need for global attention and measures to protect marine wildlife through further research."
