Yellow Fish in Lake Titicaca

Extinct as of 2010, the Lake Titicaca orestias, which is also known in English as a Lake Titicaca flat-headed fish, in Dutch as amanto, and in Spanish as boga, is a yellow-colored, peculiar-shaped fish with the species name Orestias cuvieri. Only recently determined to be an extinct fish, Lake Titicaca orestias is only one of 23 types of orestias that were once endemic to the lake.

  1. Features

    • The most notable feature of the Lake Titicaca orestias is it's upturned, nearly vertical face and mouth, which cause the head to appear concave. The head of the Lake Titicaca orestias takes up a third of its overall size, which can reach 10.5 inches in length in adulthood. Lake Titicaca orestias are yellow-green in color with an umber-colored top, and scales are light in the center. The jaw of the fish is black on the lower half, and fins are black and yellow-striped.

    Extinction Status

    • As of 2010, the Lake Titicaca orestias is considered extinct, but as recently as 2009 it was considered endangered by the IUCN, or International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Red List of Threatened Species.

    Causes For Extinction

    • The species is thought to have become extinct due to its inability to compete with the Lake Trout, or Salvelinus Namaycush, which ate the same fish as the orestias, or because the Lake Trout preyed upon young orestias. As of 2010, Lake Trout no longer exist in Lake Titicaca, but can be found in South American lakes, where it was relocated to preserve its status.

    Habitat and Diet

    • Like its name, the Lake Titicaca orestias was only found in Lake Titicaca, which is the highest navigable lake in the world. The lake is located on the border of Bolivia and Peru. During the cold season, young Lake Titicaca orestias were found in very deep, rocky areas of the lake. Lake Titicaca orestias were carnivores that ate fish, plankton, and microinvertebrates in the littoral zone of the lake.

    Specimens

    • Lake Titicaca was once home to 23 species of native orestias, but by the 1960s, the Lake Titicaca orestias was thought to be endangered. Specimens of orestias were first taken in the 1930s, but only seven remain today and are located in the Netherlands' National Museum of Natural History.