Huasteca Canyon, Monterrey

Cañón de la Huasteca is an incredible place, it is only 10km from Monterry City centre with spectacular rock formations. It is a popular recreation area with cyclists, climbers and other outdoor pursuits actively enjoyed here.

This site is now almost completely dry. The only pools of water that exist here now are either temporary or cause by leaks from irrigation systems.

This was the home of the Monterry Platy, Xiphophorus couchianus, this species is now extinct in the wild, and its population in captivity is tiny.

The previous water line can be seen very clearly in the pictures below.

There is some water still in the canyon, but this is either temporary, or caused by leaks near pumping stations used for irrigation. The species found in these waters are predominately introduced an not native to this area of Mexico.

Species found here include: Tilapia sp and Poeciliopsis senilis.

If you can provide photographs of X,couchianus that we could use for this article, please contact me.