More than a quarter of species are threatened with extinction
According to the latest update from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2025, more than 48,000 species are considered “threatened with extinction”. An important figure, since it represents around 28% of the species assessed by the IUCN.
For many of them, the culprit is “deforestation”. Generally caused by human activities such as agriculture, livestock breeding or even urbanization, deforestation leads to the loss of habitat for several species, but not only that.
Indeed, cutting trees can be dangerous for aquatic species: rain more easily carries soil, pesticides and waste into rivers, making the water in lakes or rivers near forests cloudy and polluted. This can lead to breathing difficulties for fish, for example, or to their eggs being buried under mud.
A species no longer observed for 20 years
Among the aquatic species that have been most impacted by deforestation, there are Moema claudiae, a seasonal mosquitofish native to Bolivia. This small, slightly orange fish has seen its habitat destroyed and transformed into agricultural land.
Moema claudiae was placed by the IUCN on the list of critically endangered species after its last sighting was more than 20 years ago. However, two researchers from the Noel Kempff Mercado Natural History Museum in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, eastern Bolivia, have confirmed the rediscovery of this species.
They indeed located a surviving group of these fish, during an expedition in a small temporary pond preserved within a fragment of forest surrounded by agricultural land, located at the transition between the Amazon rainforest and the savannahs of the Llanos de Moxos.
The first photographs of the living animal
In a study published on November 14, 2025 in the journal Nature Conservationthe research team explains having taken the first images of the living animal, to document its behavior and to study previously unknown aspects of its natural history.
“The rediscovery of Moema claudiae is for me an exceptional event. It demonstrates that we now have the possibility of preserving this species in its natural environment. said Thomas Otto Litz, researcher at the Noel Kempff Mercado Natural History Museum and co-author of the study, in comments reported by SciTechDaily.
As this waterhole is the only known site hosting a wild population of Moema claudiaeresearchers want to do everything possible to protect this area and, at the same time, preserve this species which was thought to have disappeared for more than twenty years.
Source: SciTechDaily
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