The occurrence, distribution and biology of invasive fish species in fresh and brackish water bodies of NE Morocco

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Taybi, A. F., Mabrouki, Y., Doadrio, I., 2020. The occurrence, distribution and biology of invasive fish species in fresh and brackish water bodies of NE Morocco. Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona. Dataset/Occurrence: https://doi.org/10.15470/2qed9o

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El publicador y propietario de los derechos de este trabajo es Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona. Esta obra está bajo una licencia Creative Commons de Atribución/Reconocimiento (CC-BY 4.0).

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Este recurso ha sido registrado en GBIF con el siguiente UUID: 55347db9-46a3-449d-8e55-ba6ed02e4820.  Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona publica este recurso y está registrado en GBIF como un publicador de datos avalado por GBIF Spain.

Palabras clave

Alien fishes; Mediterranean killifish; Eastern mosquitofish; Mummichog; Competition; Range expansion; Occurrence; Occurrence

Contactos

Cobertura geográfica

Morocco is currently divided into 12 administrative regions, including the Oriental Region (fig. 1), which occupies almost all the eastern side of the country and covers an area of 88,681 km2 (see Mabrouki et al., 2018 for details). The Oriental Region includes the wilaya of Oujda (Oujda–Angad prefecture) and the provinces of Berkane, Driouch, Figuig, Guercif, Jerada, Nador and Taourirt. The watershed of the Moulouya (fig. 1), which includes nearly 43,412 km2 of eastern Morocco, covers much of the Oriental Region. With a length of 600 km, the Moulouya is the longest Moroccan River flowing into the Mediterranean. Its main tributaries are the Oueds Ansegmir, Melloulou, Za and Msoun, all permanent. Other tributaries are presently intermittent (3–5 flash floods on average per year) (Bensaad et al., 2017; Mabrouki et al., 2017). Surveys Field investigations (often in the framework of various hydrobiological studies) have been carried out since 2014 at 45 stations throughout the Moulouya River basin, including its main affluents: Oued Anzegmir (side of the High Atlas), Oued Melloulou (Middle Atlas slope) and Oued Za (High Plateau), and at about 60 stations spread throughout eastern Morocco from the northern regions of Nador and Saïdia, to Figuig in the southeast and Talessint and Bouanane in the southwest (fig.1). The stations that showed the occurrence of the mentioned fish species were re-examined between 2017 and 2018. Quantitative sampling of fish fauna was carried out using nets, searching in the most suitable places for the studied species. Sampling lasted an average of one hour over an area of 10 m2 at each station, sufficient time to trap and catch virtually all the fish in each area. Invasive species caught were preserved in formalin solution, while native fish (especially fry) were returned to the water. Permission to perform these studied was granted by the authorities.

Cobertura taxonómica

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Cobertura temporal

Datos del proyecto

Biological invasions are one of the most important human impacts on a wide range of ecosystems and a major cause of global change (Ricciardi, 2006). The introduction and invasion of alien species are one of the main threats to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning worldwide, and represent the cause of huge ecological and economic costs around the world (Fausch and García-Berthou, 2013). Many invasive species have been implicated in species extinction, habitat degradation and ecosystem alteration (Cox, 1999; Pimentel et al., 2005; Coccia, 2015). Freshwater invasions have been less studied than terrestrial invasions, and the ecological and evolutionary consequences of most invasions remain unknown (Ricciardi and MacIsaac, 2011). Freshwaters are the most invaded and threatened ecosystem worldwide, with proportionally more invaders than terrestrial systems (Vitousek et al., 1997; Strayer, 2010). Many members of the genus Aphanius are “victims” of biological invasion, such as the Mediterranean killifish, A. fasciatus (Valenciennes, 1821), a cyprinodotid fish whose native range includes coastal brackish-waters mainly in the coastal zone of the central and eastern Mediterranean (Bianco, 1995). Nevertheless, it can also be found in various inland water bodies, such as lakes, inland streams and even in some North African oases (Hrbek and Meyer, 2003; Güçlü et al., 2013). Aphanius fasciatus is also present in various Mediterranean islands, such as Sardinia, Corsica and Cyprus (Bianco et al., 1996; Kottelat and Freyhof, 2007; Englezou et al., 2018). The Mediterranean killifish was reported in Morocco for the first time at the wetland of the Moulouya River mouth by Melhaoui (1994), but the species has not been reported since this record. Aphanius fasciatus has disappeared from many sites where it once existed, and its populations have declined dramatically. In many cases it has even reached local extinction due to problems such as pollution of continental and coastal waters, brackish-water habitat degradation, destruction and reduction of salt-works and, most importantly, introduction of exotic fishes (Bianco, 1995). Competition with the alien species Gambusia holbrooki Girard, 1859 has strongly reduced the presence of A. fasciatus in many parts of its range (Kessabi et al., 2009; Valdesalici et al., 2015). Commonly known as “Eastern mosquitofish”, Gambusia holbrooki is a freshwater poecilid native of America (Lloyd and Tomasov, 1985). It has been considered one of the world’s one hundred worst invasive alien species by the GISP (Global Invasive Species Programme, http://www.issg.org/database/).It was introduced extensively for biological control against mosquito larvae and distributed in all continents except Antarctica, becoming a notorious pest worldwide (Cote et al., 2011; Pyke, 2005; Srean, 2015; Arnett, 2016) and causing serious problems for native fish such as A. fasciatus, Aphanius iberus (Valenciennes, 1846) or Valencia hispanica (Valenciennes, 1846) (Rincón et al., 2002, Caiola and de Sostoa, 2005; Valdesalici et al., 2015). Another alien fish which has been reported to cause range reductions in native toothcarps is the mummichog Fundulus heteroclitus (Linnaeus, 1766), a small teleost fish, naturally occurring in saltmarshes of the Atlantic coast of North America from the Gulf of St Lawrence, southwards to north‐eastern Florida (Shute, 1980). It was found in Iberia for the first time between 1970 and 1973 (Bernardi et al., 1995). Since then, F. heteroclitus has been found in many parts of Spain and Portugal (Morim et al., 2019). We found it for the first time in Morocco and Northern Africa at the Moulouya River mouth This study aimed to evaluate the presence of A. fasciatus or any native Aphanius species in NE Morocco, in parallel with the two invasive species G. holbrooki and F. heteroclitus. Furthermore, our goal was to study the interaction between the invasive fish, and their occurrence, distribution and biology in the fresh and brackish water bodies of the study area.

Personas asociadas al proyecto:

Métodos de muestreo

Field investigations (often in the framework of various hydrobiological studies) have been carried out since 2014 at 45 stations throughout the Moulouya River basin, including its main affluents: Oued Anzegmir (side of the High Atlas), Oued Melloulou (Middle Atlas slope) and Oued Za (High Plateau), and at about 60 stations spread throughout eastern Morocco from the northern regions of Nador and Saïdia, to Figuig in the southeast and Talessint and Bouanane in the southwest (fig.1). The stations that showed the occurrence of the mentioned fish species were re-examined between 2017 and 2018. Quantitative sampling of fish fauna was carried out using nets, searching in the most suitable places for the studied species. Sampling lasted an average of one hour over an area of 10 m2 at each station, sufficient time to trap and catch virtually all the fish in each area. Invasive species caught were preserved in formalin solution, while native fish (especially fry) were returned to the water. Permission to perform these studied was granted by the authorities.

Descripción de la metodología paso a paso:

1. For this study, ten environmental parameters were selected: sulfate (SO42–), biological oxygen demand after 5 days (BOD5), phosphate (PO43–) and nitrate (N-NO3) were measured in the laboratory. Conductivity, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature and the mean depth were measured in situ using a multiparametric measuring device (WTW, Multi-Line P4). Two replicas of water samples from each station were taken in 500 ml polyethylene bottles. The water samples were preserved with 2 ml of concentrated hydrochloric acid (pH = 2). According to standards ISO 5667-6 (1990), ISO 5667-2 (1991) and ISO 5667-3 (1994), water samples were transported in a cooler at a low temperature (± 4 °C) to stop the metabolic activities of organisms in the water. The current velocity, well known for its selective action on habitat and species distribution (Mabrouki et al., 2019a), was quantified by its mean value at three different locations of the same station. In the absence of a hydrometric reel to measure current velocity it was estimated using a stopwatch at various points of the watercourse by measuring the time it takes for a floating object to cross a given path. The average speed (converted to cm–1) was semi-quantitatively estimated, followed by a transformation into three modalities: 1, very low to no current < 5 cm–1; 2, low current 5 < 2 < 25 cm–1; and 3, average current 25 < 3 < 50 cm-1.

Referencias bibliográficas

1. Taybi, A. F., Mabrouki, Y., Doadrio, I., 2020. The occurrence, distribution and biology of invasive fish species in fresh and brackish water bodies of NE Morocco. Arxius de Miscel·lània Zoològica, 18: 59-73, Doi: https://doi.org/10.32800/amz.2020.18.0059 https://doi.org/10.32800/amz.2020.18.0059

Metadatos adicionales