Simply news...

2014 is coming to an end, and it is time to resume a bit and take some glances into the future. This year brought the first GWG meeting in the center of Goodeid distribution, in Morelia in Michoacán. Not only the meeting was outstanding with again an enhancement of the quality of talks, but also the country itself with a beautiful landscape, amazing habitats and the overwhelming hospitality of a cheerful and ingenuous people. Thank you Mexico! The gone time in Mexico brought also some new perceptions of the life of Goodeids. It was amazing seeing Allotoca species living mainly in habitats with sometimes strong current, sheltering under river bank vegetation. Zoogoneticus species were obvious between stems of reed or Taxodium roots, and we found Neotoca living in big numbers between stems of reed in very shallow water.  Hubbsina turneri respectively Girardinichthys ireneae really came out of shelter in twilight and Goodea can look extremly different even in not so far distant habitats, sometimes reaching astonishing sizes of more than 20cm in total. We collected Xenoophorus captivus in Venado and Moctezuma spring, being surprised that the introduced Xiphophorus hellerii disappeared from Moctezuma spring by unknown circumstances. We found Allotoca meeki  that was supposed to be extinct already and sampled Zoogoneticus purhepechus in the Lago de Camécuaro despite it was said that there is no more Goodeid. This insights brought up in us the will to offer to GWG members annually survey trips to Goodeid habitats, organized by the two chapters in change, starting in 2016 with the European chapter. In 2017 the American chapter will follow. In 2018, it is very likely that the GWG meeting will be again in Mexico, probably in Guadalajára. This trips will be offered on the GWG site and limited to 15 people to join.

Following the wish of some members, we started to make pdfs out of the given talks of the GWG meetings, here are the first ones to see. What also can be seen on this page are the venues and dates of the next meetings for planning your year in advance.

Some more things changed for the Species profile pages. There is a new point called Husbandry. When it was thought originally to sum up pdfs of the breeding conditions of members, we now changed into offering proofed breeding conditions to give newcomers a tool to be successful in keeping and breeding these fish. We started to add documented Locailities to the species profiles and the point Distribution has changed into Distribution and ESU's. All of these changes have been done for the beginning only in the genus Zoogoneticus, but they will be enlarged to all species by time. According to the abbreviation ESU: ESU ist short for Evolutionarily Significant Unit. Each unit expresses an isolated population with different genetic characteristics within one species. ESU's can be defined by Molecular genetics, Morphology and/or Zoogeography and help in indicating different phylogenetic lineages within a species. This system, developed by John Lyons, will flow in the taxonomy of Goodeids to distinguish these different genetic units and simply give them a term. These terms will help in the near future to support the IUCN with data about the threats of Goodeids down to ESU or population level and give at least the ESU's an officially accepted status by this organization. Also the European Aquarium and Zoo Association, the EAZA is interested in using this information to establish Regional Collcetion Plans (RCP's), a tool for Zoos and Aquariums to select fish for their exhibitions and backstage breeding and conservation facilities by focusing on endangered species, but including also private people and therefore following the established GWG objectives. Michael Köck is coordinator for the Goodeids within the EAZA. Both status given by the IUCN and the EAZA may help in installing conservation projects easier or prevent projects threathening Goodeids and mean a big step in Goodeid conservation!

One project to reintroduce an extinct species will start in about 2 weeks: The reintroduction of Zoogoneticus tequila. Though the money to start the project has been collected for the first year, the project is still in need of money for the following three years. Information can be obtained from Omar Domínguez, the project coordinator. Since December, there ia also a breeding book for Allodontichtyhs polylepis installed, giving the population from the Río Potrero Grande highest priority status (about 120 specimens in total) and the population from the Río de las Bolas monitoring status as there are more than 500 specimens now from this population.

Within the first three months of 2015, we finally will be able to emit our first newsletter, we will link to the Goodeidae page on Facebook from Michael Winther to substitute more or less the not-frequented Forum, the pathology center from Alessio Arbuatti in Teramo can accept the first fish for examination via the detour Haus des Meeres (guidelines for the preparation of the fish will be presented on the GWG website) and we (GWG and the Aqualab in Morelia) are going to visit Characodon habitats in January to proof the distribution range of the genus, look for maybe unknown habitats and take estimations about the threat of the whole genus. John Lyons, Kyle Piller and others do a sample trip a little bit earlier the coming year to Jalisco, visiting mainly Etzatlán and the Magdalena lake area.

Slowly coming to an end, we want to wish you dear friend a successful 2015, health, prosperity and of course Good(eid) -luck!