Skip to content

SpeciesScientists Discover Mysterious New Fish in the Red Sea – and Have Never Seen It Again OceanEye to eye with Britain's hidden sharks at SharkAdemy - Oceanographic RiversIn October, biologists surveying a New York harbor for invasive fish pulled up a bright yellow one. It wasn't an invasive species at all OceanShedd Aquarium Sends Shark Eggs to Bolster Wild Populations SpeciesA rare fish has been found in Lake Ontario, North America, whose entire body is golden. It is a nati..OceanThe Great Sea Reef Is Fiji’s Wildest Dive, and a New Frontier for Conservation OceanEckerd College professor contributes to designating Biscayne Bay an Important Shark and Ray Area SpeciesRio Verde Grande Survey Identifies Fifty-Three Fish Species Facing Flow Reductions FisheriesAdams River Salmon Run in Thompson-Nicola IndiaHilsa production dropped 26% in five years, fisheries minister tells parliament SpeciesScientists Discover Mysterious New Fish in the Red Sea – and Have Never Seen It Again OceanEye to eye with Britain's hidden sharks at SharkAdemy - Oceanographic RiversIn October, biologists surveying a New York harbor for invasive fish pulled up a bright yellow one. It wasn't an invasive species at all OceanShedd Aquarium Sends Shark Eggs to Bolster Wild Populations SpeciesA rare fish has been found in Lake Ontario, North America, whose entire body is golden. It is a nati..OceanThe Great Sea Reef Is Fiji’s Wildest Dive, and a New Frontier for Conservation OceanEckerd College professor contributes to designating Biscayne Bay an Important Shark and Ray Area SpeciesRio Verde Grande Survey Identifies Fifty-Three Fish Species Facing Flow Reductions FisheriesAdams River Salmon Run in Thompson-Nicola IndiaHilsa production dropped 26% in five years, fisheries minister tells parliament

EveryFish

Critically endangered

At extremely high risk of extinction. 28 fish on EveryFish so far.

Critically Endangered is the highest risk category on the IUCN Red List for species still living in the wild. A Critically Endangered species faces an extremely high risk of extinction, for example after a fall of 80 per cent or more in numbers over ten years or three generations, or with very few adults left. Sawfish, many sturgeons, the European eel, the Mekong giant catfish and the hump-backed mahseer are here.

On the brink

The largetooth and smalltooth sawfishes have vanished from much of their former range, including large parts of India's coasts, because their saws tangle in nets. Most sturgeons, including the beluga of the Caspian, are Critically Endangered from dams and the caviar trade. The scalloped hammerhead and the oceanic whitetip shark were listed in 2019 after steep declines from fishing. The Devils Hole pupfish survives in one pool in Nevada.

India's critically endangered fish

The hump-backed mahseer of the Kaveri was listed as Critically Endangered in 2018, the year its scientific name was settled, after surveys found it had almost disappeared. The Ganges shark, a river shark of the Hooghly and the delta, is known from very few records. Both are protected under India's Wild Life (Protection) Act, along with the sawfishes. Saving such fish depends on protecting the rivers and coasts where they live, not only on hatcheries.

Famous critically endangered fish

Mekong giant catfishOne of the largest freshwater fish

Devils Hole pupfishLives in a single pool

Still to be written: Largetooth sawfish, Beluga (sturgeon), European eel, Tor remadeviae, Scalloped hammerhead, Ganges shark.

Further reading

Nothing matches those filters yet. Take one off, or check back: new pages are written every day.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Devils Hole pupfish: Olin Feuerbacher / USFWS, Public domain, source
Mekong giant catfish: KKPCW, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

The weekly digest

Every Monday: the fish of the day, new pages on EveryFish, and the conferences and anniversaries of the week ahead.