Quarter of world’s freshwater fish at risk of extinction, according to assessment

Global heating, pollution, overfishing and falling water levels among factors hitting populations, finds IUCN red list study

Nearly a quarter of the world’s freshwater fish are at risk of extinction due to global heating, overfishing and pollution, according to an expert assessment.

From the large-toothed Lake Turkana robber in Kenya to the Mekong giant catfish in south-east Asia, many of the world’s freshwater fish are at risk of disappearing, the first International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list assessment of the category has found.