Freshwater
sharks in Lake Cocibolca (Lake Nicaragua)
In the coastal
and volcanic regions of America, lake landscapes abounded. There were lakes in
the Purépecha country of Michoacán, in the Otomi and Nahua central region of Mexico, in the volcanic plateaus and valleys of the Mayan country, in
the Lenca and Guatuso lands of Central America, and further south, in the
coasts, mountains and plateaus of the South American continent.
These lakes were
privileged sites for human occupation. In addition to supplying fresh water for
towns and cities, they contained very rich ecosystems with fish, birds,
invertebrates and aquatic plants that could provide food for many people.
On the shores of
the lakes, fishing villages were established, which in addition to fishing took
advantage of other resources of the lacunar environment, such as crustaceans,
mollusks, batrachians, algae or plant fibers.
In Mesoamerica
progress was made in the use of lacunar waters and a productive agriculture was
developed by means of floating gardens, called chinampas in the Mexican lakes.
In larger bodies
of water, such as the lakes of the Anahuac valley in the Mexican plateau, lake
Titicaca in the Peruvian-Bolivian plateau and Lake Cocibolca in Nicaragua, lake
surfaces provided an adequate environment for navigation and trade between the
coastal regions. In many ways these lakes represented prosperity and abundance
and allowed the development of complex societies with dense demographic
concentrations and high productivity.
European
colonization produced profound changes in the relationship of populations with
the interior waters of the continent. After five centuries of Creole occupation
of the lacunar coasts, the landscape is no longer the same.
Many lakes in
America have suffered human predation. Some have disappeared. Others have been
reduced to a minimal expression. There are lakes that are polluted and do not
harbor animal life in their waters. And finally there are the degraded, who
have lost diversity, with extinct or endangered species.
The Great Lake
of Nicaragua, called Cocibolca by the Nahuas and Ukurikitucara by the Guatusos
and Matagalpas was for a long time home to sharks. It was a unique species of
freshwater sharks. The scientists called him Carcharhinus nicaraguensis.
It is a species
that is closely related to the Bull Shark that abounds in tropical seas.
The studies made
it possible to verify that the Shark of the Lake migrated by the San Juan River
to the Caribbean, in the style of the salmon, and then returned. This was
confirmed by means of some labeled specimens.
Formerly the
species was very abundant. Although there were stories about their
aggressiveness, attacks on people, the danger they could represent, in fact it
was a fairly harmless fish.
In 2004, it was
reported that in the waters of the San Juan River, a massacre of the species
was occurring as a result of the very high price paid for the fin of the animal
in Japan and other countries in the East. The figure of $ 256 per pound (more
than $ 500 per kilogram) was mentioned. The indiscriminate fishing continues
and it is thought that the shark of the lake is about to become extinct.
Or maybe it's
already extinct.Reproduced from "Chronicles of Human Peripecy", Danilo Antón, Piriguazú Ediciones
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