Current location:World Watchers news portal > entertainment
VOX POPULI: Rooting for the Sendai killifish that survived the 2011 tsunami
World Watchers news portal2024-05-07 22:05:00【entertainment】2People have gathered around
IntroductionIn February 1999, the Environment Agency (the present-day Environment Ministry) shocked the nation b
In February 1999, the Environment Agency (the present-day Environment Ministry) shocked the nation by designating the all-too-familiar “medaka” killifish as an endangered species.
That was exactly a quarter-century ago. Has the medaka population grown or declined since then?
“Unfortunately, the medaka’s risk of extinction is growing,” said ichthyologist Arimune Munakata, 51, an associate professor at the Miyagi University of Education. “Although preservation measures have proven successful in some regions, many of their habitats have been lost.”
He continued, “If we provisionally set the medaka population at the end of the Edo Period (1603-1867) at 100, the population today has been reduced to less than 10 due to pesticides and invasive foreign species.”
Munakata has been working to revive schools of wild medaka that carry genes unique to natives of the Sendai area.
They were believed to have been driven to extinction by the tsunami triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011.
But it so happened that the year before the quake, researchers at Munakata’s university had collected 20 to 30 medaka near the Ido district of Sendai’s Wakabayashi Ward and were raising them in the university’s research pond.
Munakata named these fish “Ido Medaka” after the district they came from. And when he sought volunteer breeders, individuals as well as schools and corporate groups positively responded.
These medaka are black. Munakata held lectures and workshops at a local zoo to ensure that the fish were not cross-bred with red and yellow pet medaka.
“Thankfully, the Ido Medaka population has now grown to the tens of thousands,” Munakata beamed. “They are a symbol of (Sendai’s) recovery from the disaster.”
After my interview with him at his university, I headed by car to Wakabayashi Ward, where many residents perished in the tsunami.
In a pond installed at the former site of an elementary school, the medaka were swimming freely and vigorously. Every individual was beautifully black.
As I watched them, my thoughts turned to animals and plants unique to the Noto Peninsula that must have been washed away by the tsunami triggered by the earthquake on New Year’s Day.
Are there rare species that are now on the verge of extinction? With water service disruptions and power blackouts still plaguing survivors of the Noto Peninsula earthquake, I know there is nothing that can be done yet.
But I pray, at least, that when life returns to normal, people’s attention will turn to the revival of those small endangered lives.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 13
(This article was carried only in extra online editions for the newspaper holidays)
* *
*Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
Address of this article:http://pitcairnislands.downmusic.org/html-78e599921.html
Very good!(4)
Related articles
- Can yogurt reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes?
- California's population grew in 2023, halting 3 years of decline
- Lilly rides Mounjaro, Zepbound to better
- Using a walker boot for too long may mean you can't ever walk properly without it again
- Detroit man sentenced to 80 years for fatal shootings of 2 West Virginia women
- Moment serial dine
- What's causing the catastrophic rainfall in Kenya?
- Facebook and Instagram face European Union scrutiny over possible breaches of digital rulebook
- Radek Faksa scores in return, Stars oust defending Stanley Cup champ Golden Knights 2
- Growing wildfire risk leaves states grappling with how to keep property insurers from fleeing
Popular articles
- American soldier was arrested in Russia and accused of stealing from a girlfriend, US officials say
- Former Italian foreign minister convicted for role in sale of Monte Carlo apartment
- Derrick White scores 38, Celtics top Heat 102
- PGA Tour goes to Dallas for same course and new title. LIV Golf plays in Singapore
Recommended
FBI lays out detailed case against Florida man accused in wife's disappearance in Spain
Iran commutes a tycoon's death sentence to 20 years in prison
Moment serial dine
Ralph Lauren goes minimal for latest fashion show, with muted tones and a more intimate setting
Turkey says it has carried out new airstrikes against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq
Using a walker boot for too long may mean you can't ever walk properly without it again
HSBC CEO Noel Quinn plans to retire
Nigerians struggle with fuel shortages as queues form across major cities
Links
- Lockdown lifts at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota after report of a single gunshot
- After 40 years in Park City, Sundance exploring options for 2027 film festival and beyond
- Former Michigan center Tarris Reed Jr. announces he is transferring to UConn
- NFL draft: Top defensive players on the board
- Baltimore Bombers? Mullins' walk
- Kentucky spokeswoman: School is 'distressed' to hear of alleged sexual misconduct by ex
- Starling Marte's HR keys surging Mets to sweep of Pirates with 9
- Lack of government experts sinking Lao energy and mines sector — Radio Free Asia
- CJ Abrams' leadoff homer lifts Nationals over Dodgers 2
- Dubai rain: Why experts don't think cloud seeding played a role