The rare gold loach has lived in the Oder since 2003. After the fish died in August, it disappeared Photo: picture alliance / Patrick Pleul
From BZ
Millions of euros have been spent on its protection. But after the mass fish die-off in the summer, the strictly protected Baltic wolffish disappeared from the Oder.
Aquatic researchers have now searched in vain for the 8 to 12 centimeter large fish with the golden scales, which has been living in the German-Polish border river since 2003. The Goldsteinbeißer probably did not survive the environmental catastrophe in August.
Tragic, because it was only in 2016 that its habitat was secured with a construction worth millions to regulate the flow of the Oder.
The scientists at the Leibniz Institute made two more terrible discoveries: Almost only juvenile fish live in the border river. The proportion of adult animals fell from 40 to almost three percent.
The worst: The salinity of the Oder is almost as high as in August. Algae thrived in the warm, brackish water, and the fish died from their poison.
Leibniz researcher Christian Wolter: “If countermeasures are not finally taken, the body of water will never recover.”
