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Article: Lake Victoria's Ecosystem, Vital to Millions, May Be Unraveling
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- June 5, 1989
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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The greatest freshwater lake in Africa, once a living aquarium
filled with hundreds of species of exotic fish, may be poised on the
brink of an ecological collapse that would rob millions of lakeshore
people of their major source of protein.
An international team of researchers has reported that Lake
Victoria, the third largest lake in the world, is dominated by just
three species of fish, including an introduced predator called the
Nile perch. Unlike the perch familiar in American waters, the Nile
perch can grow six feet long and weigh several hundred pounds. A
relentless carnivore at the top of the food chain, the Nile perch has
so devastated native fish species that it has resorted to ...