Zoo Places Personal Ad To Find Mate For Rare, Ugly Fish

Aquarists at London Zoo have issued the aquatic equivalent of a worldwide personal ad, seeking mates for a rare and "gorgeously ugly" species of fish on the brink of extinction.

Native to Madagascar, the Mangarahara cichlid (Ptychochromis Insolitus) is believed to be extinct in the wild, due to the introduction of dams drying up its habitat in the Mangarahara River.

Two of the last known individuals are in captivity at London Zoo. Unfortunately, both of the fish are male. Aquarists at the zoo have appealed to other zoos and aquariums around the world to find more Mangarahara cichlids, but have had no success finding any females.

A zoo in Berlin has the only other known specimen. It is also a male. The German zoo at one point had a female too, but the male reportedly killed her when they were introduced to breed.

It's a fairly common thing with cichlids," London Zoo's aquarium curator Brian Zimmerman told BBC News. "They are unusual fish compared to many in that they practice pair bonding and parental care of the eggs and the fry, so there's a lot of tussling that goes on between them."

In hail-Mary pass to keep the species going, the zoo has issued a global appeal to private aquarium owners, fish collectors and hobbyists to come forward if they know of any female Mangarahara cichlids in existence.

"The Mangarahara cichlid is shockingly and devastatingly facing extinction; its wild habitat no longer exists and as far as we can tell, only three males remain of this entire species," said Zimmerman in a news release.

Zimmerman told the BBC that anyone who owns one of the fish is likely to know it.

"They are not a particularly beautiful fish - they are gorgeously ugly, they are unusual. They are more a connoisseur's type of fish. They need quite a bit of space; the males are bigger than your hand, and they need a decent tank," he added

Zimmerman said that if a mate is found, the London Zoo has facilities and expertise to give the species a swimming chance at survival.

"We are urgently appealing to anyone who owns or knows someone who may own these critically endangered fish, which are silver in color with an orange-tipped tail, so that we can start a breeding program here at the Zoo to bring them back from the brink of extinction."

London Zoo is asking anyone with information about the cichlids to email the team at fishappeal@zsl.org