{"title":"Review of fish community, stressors and conservation in the Rondegat River (South Africa)","authors":"C. J. Broom, O. Weyl, J. South","doi":"10.29094/fishmed.2023.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29094/fishmed.2023.001","url":null,"abstract":"Anthropogenic change is a major threat to dwindling freshwater biodiversity. We present and synthesise available information regarding the fish community, ecology, threats and conservation options within The Cape Fold Ecoregion (CFE) of South Africa. The CFE is a particularly vulnerable region, with many range-restricted species and highly fragmented native fish ranges. The Rondegat River in the Olifants-Doring River System of the Western Cape province is of notable conservation value, as it hosts populations of important endemic CFE species despite being at risk from non-native invasive species, climate change, and agriculture intensification. This river is unique, being the site of the first alien fish eradication programme of its kind in South Africa. The recovering Rondegat River imperilled cyprinid assemblage is used to frame the manner in which future environmental change may continue to disturb the ecology of the system. Conservation options and priorities are discussed in the context of a southern hemisphere Mediterranean-climate freshwater system","PeriodicalId":113771,"journal":{"name":"Fishes in Mediterranean Environments","volume":"23 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117041817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Nuptial tubercles in fish: what are they for?","authors":"V. Gallego, C. Sousa‐Santos","doi":"10.29094/fishmed.2022.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29094/fishmed.2022.002","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":113771,"journal":{"name":"Fishes in Mediterranean Environments","volume":"89 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122231096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The presence of Acipenser sturgeons in the Iberian Peninsula: a review of the existing literature","authors":"R. Miranda, J. Oscoz","doi":"10.29094/fishmed.2023.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29094/fishmed.2023.002","url":null,"abstract":"The conservation status of sturgeon species is highly alarming. Six of the European Acipenser species are critically endangered. Several studies developed in the last decades have analysed the distribution of sturgeons in the Iberian Peninsula, questioning the possibility of the native character of some Acipenser species there, with a special focus on the Adriatic sturgeon, A. naccarii. We review the available knowledge on the distribution on Iberian Acipenser sturgeons, in order to ascertain their nativeness status, as a necessary tool to implement measures for their management and conservation. One vagrant specimen of A. oxyrinchus, and several released or escaped specimens of A. baerii and A. naccarii have been recorded in the Iberian Peninsula. Our results show that the Atlantic sturgeon A. sturio is the only native sturgeon species that has had breeding populations in the past in the Iberian Peninsula. Regarding A. naccarii, further evidence is required to prove its dubious native character in the Iberian Peninsula. Although the reviewed studies have solidly shown that A. naccarii has been present outside the Adriatic basin, the presence of isolated individuals does not constitute sufficient evidence to sustain the existence of past breeding populations.","PeriodicalId":113771,"journal":{"name":"Fishes in Mediterranean Environments","volume":"167 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132752272","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
O. Gavira, Samuel Labado, Jose Antonio Cuenca, J. M. Heredia, Sebastian Gonzalo Cuerda-Perez
{"title":"The climbing of the freshwater blenny","authors":"O. Gavira, Samuel Labado, Jose Antonio Cuenca, J. M. Heredia, Sebastian Gonzalo Cuerda-Perez","doi":"10.29094/fishmed.2021.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29094/fishmed.2021.001","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":113771,"journal":{"name":"Fishes in Mediterranean Environments","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134515970","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"External parasites: how anchor worms affect Iberian endemic fish","authors":"C. Sousa‐Santos, V. Gallego","doi":"10.29094/fishmed.2023.003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29094/fishmed.2023.003","url":null,"abstract":"Lernaea cyprinacea, commonly known as anchor worm, is a cosmopolitan invasive copepod that parasitizes a wide variety of freshwater fish, including several native and endemic species of the Iberian Peninsula (Sánchez-Hernández 2017), like the Squalius alburnoides from the Guadiana River basin depicted in the photograph, with 3 different individuals attached. Anchor worm was introduced to Iberia from Asia in the 1970s (Simon Vicente et al. 1973). While males are free-living, adult females attach their anchors – a modification of the head – to the fish host, usually in the fins, gills or mouth. Infestation by this external parasite is easily recognised by the wounds, ulcers and inflammatory processes that it induces in the fish skin and muscle (Hossain et al. 2018, see photograph). It may also induce anaemia, malformations, reduced growth and increased susceptibility to secondary infections (Sánchez-Hernández 2017). Small fish are specially affected in their swimming ability, respiration and health condition due to infections and mechanical compression of internal organs, both resulting from the ulcerous skin lesions developed at anchoring sites (Guagliardo & Tanzola 2016). Since infestation prevalence are hypothesised to be positively correlated with higher water temperatures (Marcogliese 2001), outbreaks are expected to increase in intermittent southern Iberian rivers under a global climate change scenario (Macedo-Veiga et al. 2019), which will likely contribute to the aggravation of the conservation status of the already imperilled native fish species. Although broader studies are needed, reported prevalences are higher in native Iberian fish than in sympatric alien species (Macedo-Veiga et al. 2019)","PeriodicalId":113771,"journal":{"name":"Fishes in Mediterranean Environments","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125118652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Clavero, N. Franch, V. Lopez, Q. Pou-Rovira, J. M. Queral
{"title":"Native and non-native fish across aquatic habitats in the Ebro Delta","authors":"M. Clavero, N. Franch, V. Lopez, Q. Pou-Rovira, J. M. Queral","doi":"10.29094/fishmed.2021.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29094/fishmed.2021.002","url":null,"abstract":"We describe the variability in the composition of fish communities in the Ebro Delta (NE Iberian Peninsula) and report the habitat preferences of the most common species. The Ebro Delta is a large coastal wetland that has been intensively modified, mainly for rice cultivation involving the input of a large amount of low-conductivity waters into an originally brackish and saline system. We de- fined nine main habitat types within the Ebro Delta (the river, inflow channels, rice fields, outflow channels, springs, marshes, lagoons, lagoon mouths and bays) and sampled fish communities in them by establishing 376 sampling sites, in which we set 1431 fyke nets. We captured more than 120,000 fish belonging to 52 species, of which 37 were native and 15 were non-native. The ichthyofauna of the Ebro Delta is strongly structured in relation to habitat type, following variations in water salinity, and there is a clear segregation of native and non-native fish species. Native species are clearly dominant in the more saline habitats, namely bays, lagoons, lagoon mouths and marshes, while non-natives dominate the aquatic habitats related to rice cultivation (inflow and outflow channels as well as rice fields). Freshwater springs are dominated by non-natives in terms of abundance, but not in terms of richness. Since the decline and loss of native fish species in the Ebro Delta seems linked to the massive inflow of low- conductivity waters for rice irrigation, fish conservation must focus in reducing the influence of those outflows on the remaining natural and semi-natural wetlands.","PeriodicalId":113771,"journal":{"name":"Fishes in Mediterranean Environments","volume":"61 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124871767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Updating Anaecypris hispanica distribution and conservation status in Portugal","authors":"A. Cardoso","doi":"10.29094/fishmed.2022.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29094/fishmed.2022.001","url":null,"abstract":"Anaecypris hispanica is a small and endangered cyprinid endemic restricted to the southwestern Iberian Peninsula. Despite its conservation status, the last assessment of its distribution in Portugal was carried on in the late 1990s. Here, I use data collected through a standardized methodology between 2015 and 2021 to update the information on the main threats, distribution and abundance patterns of A. hispanica in Portugal. Results confirm the progressive decrease in the geographic range of the species, involving its disappearance from six sub-basins. The main threats for conservation of A. hispanica and other fish in the Guadiana basin are the same identified twenty years ago (i.e., over-abstraction of water, over-grazing and proliferation of exotic species). Conservation actions should be mainly focused on improving water management and should become priorities for the Guadiana Hydrographic Management Plan.","PeriodicalId":113771,"journal":{"name":"Fishes in Mediterranean Environments","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127831428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}