South Africa’s freshwater fish face extinction
12 Mar 2021
Half a century ago, Clanwilliam sawfins thrived in most of the rivers draining South Africa’s spectacular Cederberg Wilderness Area. Today, this muscular rugged-finned freshwater fish is listed as ‘near threatened’ by the IUCN Red List, with just 11 riverine populations now remaining. Predation by invasive bass on young sawfins is the number one cause behind the recent population declines. (Jeremy Shelton)
Sarah Fransman remembers how, 30 years ago, Clanwilliam sandfish swirling in the Biedouw River Valley in the Cederberg looked like a golden, shimmering wave. “The whole school would stretch from one side of the river to the other,” she recalls in the Saving Sandfish project series.