Endangered Species: The Orange Roughy
The orange roughy is a fish found in the deep sea. It's named after its orange coloured scales, which, believe it or not, help camouflage the fish. Due to the lack of light underwater, orange and red appear almost invisible to other organisms and allows the roughy to hide in plain sight from its predators. However, the orange roughy is unable to hide from its most dangerous threat: fishermen. The species was driven nearly to extinction in the 1990's due to overpopulation.
The orange roughy is extremely easy to catch during spawning season when they can be found in massive groups packed tightly together in oceans near New Zealand and Australia. Fishermen simply need to drop their nets on one of these spawning groups and in minutes the nets surface bursting with fish. Since the fish was such an easy catch, it became a very popular dish served on dinner tables worldwide.
It wasn't until mid-2000's that people started realizing that the roughy population was quickly diminishing. This was due to a combination of overfishing and the slow reproduction rate of the species. Orange roughy matures very slowly, and only begin reproducing after 30 years, then continue to live for up to 150 years. Although the species is now protected almost everywhere, there are still poachers out there trying to get an extra buck off the once popular fish dish.
The documentary below is about poaching orange roughy. However, if you don't have twenty minutes to spare, skip to 1:48-6:56
The orange roughy is extremely easy to catch during spawning season when they can be found in massive groups packed tightly together in oceans near New Zealand and Australia. Fishermen simply need to drop their nets on one of these spawning groups and in minutes the nets surface bursting with fish. Since the fish was such an easy catch, it became a very popular dish served on dinner tables worldwide.
It wasn't until mid-2000's that people started realizing that the roughy population was quickly diminishing. This was due to a combination of overfishing and the slow reproduction rate of the species. Orange roughy matures very slowly, and only begin reproducing after 30 years, then continue to live for up to 150 years. Although the species is now protected almost everywhere, there are still poachers out there trying to get an extra buck off the once popular fish dish.
The documentary below is about poaching orange roughy. However, if you don't have twenty minutes to spare, skip to 1:48-6:56
Did You Know?
The orange roughy's original name was slimefish, but the name was changed so it would be more appealing on the shelf in supermarkets.
The orange roughy's original name was slimefish, but the name was changed so it would be more appealing on the shelf in supermarkets.