The Zebra pleco Hypancistrus zebra is endemic to the middle of Brazil’s Rio Xingu (pronounced shin goo) and is among the list of catfish species at risk from the Belo Monte dam. It lives at a depth where the surroundings are, at best, pretty gloomy, if not completely dark. It lives in the cracks, gaps and natural caves found in the very specific type of rock found in the river. This is dark brown to black hard igneous rock that, in shallower water, is set in tan-coloured sand. There is very little submerged wood, there are virtually no plants and the water belts through the area at a rate of knots. Many of these areas are rapids and the water is highly oxygenated. (Practical Fishkeeping)
In the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, an epic battle to stop the world’s third-largest hydroelectric dam on the Xingu River lasted for decades. Ignoring widespread protests and warnings from scientists, while riding roughshod over the rule of law, the Brazilian government insisted on pushing ahead with Belo Monte, no matter what the cost.
