Back from the dead: Race to save Romania's 65 million-year-old fish

By Stephen McGrath, Curtea de Arges, Romania Nov. 2020

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54823866

ANDREI TOGOR/MARCUS DRIMBEA/ALEX GAVAN FOUNDATION

The Asprete fish has survived unchanged for millions of years

On a tiny stretch of the fast-flowing Valsan river in Romania lives one of the rarest fish in Europe, and quite possibly the world.

The 65-million-year-old Asprete was first discovered by a biology student in 1956, and for decades it has teetered on the brink of extinction.

"After many years trying to save [it], people were telling us that the species was extinct," Nicolae Craciun, a 59-year-old biologist, told the BBC. "But we were sure they still existed."

The Asprete, a small nocturnal fish that hides under rocks, has an uncertain future and faces myriad threats.

ALEX GAVAN/ALEX GAVAN FOUNDATION

Official estimates number the population at around 10-15 specimens, which are thought to exist on a 1km (0.6 mile) stretch of the shallow, rocky Valsan. This compares with around 200 specimens in the early 2000s.

But a small team of scientists and conservationists are campaigning to save the endemic fish species, also known as Romanichthys valsanicola.

And they have been encouraged by a recent discovery in the river.

'One of the biggest rewards'

One day in late October, Andrei Togor, a 31-year-old fish biologist, was monitoring angling fish species of the Asprete when he discovered 12 specimens in a small section of the Valsan river.

"Having an Asprete in front of our eyes was fantastic," he told the BBC. "It's one of the biggest rewards a field biologist can get."

The Asprete is a so-called living fossil, which means it has survived for millions of years largely unchanged. But a mere six decades of human activity has severely impacted its habitat and population.

One of the major impacts on the species has been a series of hydroelectric dams, built on the mountainous river network under Romania's communist regime in the late 1960s.

Until then, the Asprete is thought to have inhabited around 30km of the Valsan as well as two parallel rivers: the Arges and Raul Doamnei.

"It disappeared from the Raul Doamnei because there was no water any more. For one year the riverbed was almost dry," says Andrei Togor. "The communist plan didn't care about this endemic species. This fish is so rare because of humans."

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