Name: Scientists fight to save fish old as the dinosaurs from extinction
Uploaded: 2025-11-25T09:42:01.476Z
Duration: 2 min 56 s
Description: In Cuba’s Zapata Swamp, a rare fish that dates back to the dinosaur era is on the brink of extinction. Scientists are racing to save the manjuari before it disappears forever.

In Cuba’s Zapata Swamp, a rare fish that dates back to the dinosaur era is on the brink of extinction. Scientists are racing to save the manjuari before it disappears forever.

Cienaga de Zapata

Scientists in Cuba are working to prevent the extinction of the manuari, a fish species native to the island and considered a biological relic dating back over 140 million years. The manuari has been classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature since 2020, with its population threatened by habitat loss, overexploitation, and the introduction of invasive species such as the African walking catfish.

A team led by biologist Andres Hurtado at Cienaga de Zapata National Park is breeding manuari in hatcheries and releasing them into the wild to help restore their numbers. Despite challenges such as supply shortages and the fish's elusive nature, local reports indicate that manuari populations are persisting, and the reintroduction project aims to increase their abundance in Cuban waters.

Scientists fight to save fish old as the dinosaurs from extinction

This mosquito-ridden lagoon in Cuba is ground zero for a humble but dedicated restoration effort that aims to save a fish as old as dinosaurs from extinction. The garfish, or manuari, is long and slender, its snout filled with sharp teeth, and it's considered critically endangered, earning it a spot on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List since 2020. Andres Hurtado is a biologist at the Cienaga de Zapata National Park. The manuari is an endemic species of Cuba. It is a jewel of Cuban fish fauna. It is a biological relic that has lived for more than 150 or 140 million years and is currently in critical danger of extinction due to numerous causes. After centuries of exploitation, other culprits in its decline include habitat loss and the 1999 introduction of the African walking catfish, a voracious invasive species that has ravaged the once pristine Zapata swamp. Hurtado's answer to these challenges begins at a hatchery nearby. There, his team devised a method to breed the finicky manuari and produce the food necessary to rear them, before releasing them into the wild to bolster the swamp's ailing population. We are characterizing this specimen. These are specimens that come from the wild and are kept here. They're given quarantine and are kept here at the center to incorporate them into the breeding stock. Isolation, shortages of supplies and the fish's reclusive habits make it hard to precisely gauge the project's progress. We take measurements like total length and weight to determine the condition. That is to see the physical condition of the animal, see how much food can be given to it and in that way monitor how the fish is evolving and be able to achieve next year in the reproduction stage. Specimens that can be released into the wild. The young fish, about the size of a small pencil, dark and camouflaged, hide among the tangles of mangrove roots and are quickly lost upon release. But despite the challenges, there are signs that the project may be doing some good. Eduardo Abreu is the administrator of the Zapatas Peleo La Custrina system. Local fishermen have told us that there are manuari present, perhaps not with the abundance of the past, but it is one of the sites where this species lives today and the populations are established. And so with this reintroduction, the goal is that in the future the populations are maintained and increased and reproduction is achieved from those we release. And we establish in this way an abundance of the species within these waters.

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