Taxonomy of North American fish Eimeriidae

Taxonomic descriptions, line drawings, and references are given for the 30 named and 5 unnamed species of North American fish Eimeriidae. In addition, a key was developed based on available morphologic data to distinguish between similar species. Taxa are divided into two genera: Eimeria (27 species) which are tetr&sporocystic with dizoic, nonbivalved sporocysts, and Goussia (3 species) which are tetrasporocystic with dizoic, bivalved sporocysts that lack Stleda bodies and have sporocyst walls composed of two longitudinal valves. (PDF file contains 24 pages.

Spawning, egg development and recruitment of diadromous galaxiids in Taranaki, New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Ecology at Massey University

Spawning biology of Galaxias postvectis Clarke (shortjaw kokopu) was investigated in streams in northwest Taranaki, New Zealand. Most G. postvectis were found to spawn near their adult habitat on the river bank during spate flows between May 9 and 17, 2001. Other galaxiids captured appeared to begin spawning earlier in late April. Sixteen galaxiid nests were discovered amongst flooded areas, lying on or amongst the substrate, vegetation and debris on the banks of the Katikara Stream. Mitochondrial (mt) DNA sequences were used to identify these morphologically similar eggs, with 12 being identified as G. postvectis and four as G. fasciatus Gray (banded kokopu). Galaxias fasciatus nest sites had more vegetation and debris than G. postvectis nests. The presence of a backwater or pool, cover and gravel were found to be important characteristics associated with both species nests. Egg development took around three to four weeks on the Katikara Stream margins. Under experimental conditions, most G. postvectis and G. fasciatus eggs were found to hatch within the first hour of re-immersion in water, and more hatching occurred in moving than still water at warmer temperatures. In the Katikara Stream, eggs hatched and moved downstream only at times of increased water levels. MtDNA sequences were used to identify G. fasciatus, G. postvectis and G. brevipinnis Günther (koaro) larvae caught drifting downstream in May and June, 2001. From reproductive assessment of adults captured, developmental stage of eggs in nests found, and timing of emigrating larvae, G. fasciatus appeared to spawn earlier than G. brevipinnis, and both species spawned earlier than G. postvectis. Whitebait migrations were examined within the tidal influence and c. 40 km inland in two rivers in south Taranaki, one with a dam and one without. Whitebait catches were dominated by G. maculatus (Jenyns) (inanga) and catches appeared to be similar in both rivers. Large schools of whitebait were however seen below the Patea Dam from October onwards in the Patea River. No whitebait were found to surmount the dam using the elver pass. So the presence of a dam does not appear to affect whitebait recruitment within the tidal influence, however it does block whitebait migrating further upstream to adult habitat

Les affinites systématiques des Téléostéens fossiles de l’ordre des Ichthyodectiformes

The author studies the osteological relationships between Ichthyodectiformes and other lower Teleosts. The skeleton of the Ichthyodectiformes shows positive evidence of close affinity with the Osteoglossomorpha. The author suggests that Ichthyodectiformes be placed in the super-order Osteoglossomorpha with ordinal rank

No evidence for the radiation time lag model after whole genome duplications in Teleostei.

The short and long term effects of polyploidization on the evolutionary fate of lineages is still unclear despite much interest. First recognized in land plants, it has become clear that polyploidization is widespread in eukaryotes, notably at the origin of vertebrates and teleost fishes. Many hypotheses have been proposed to link the species richness of lineages and whole genome duplications. For instance, the radiation time lag model suggests that paleopolyploidy would favour the apparition of new phenotypic traits, although the radiation of the lineage would not occur before a later dispersion event. Some results indicate that this model may be observed during land plant evolution. In this work, we test predictions of the radiation time lag model using both fossil data and molecular phylogenies in ancient and more recent teleost whole genome duplications. We fail to find any evidence of delayed increase of the species number after any of these events and conclude that paleopolyploidization still remains to be unambiguously linked to taxonomic diversity in teleosts

Effects of introduced trout predation on non-diadromous galaxiid fish populations across invaded riverscapes

Abstract We assessed the landscape-scale effect of predation pressure from trout on the population integrity and distributions of non-diadromous galaxiids in high-country streams of the South Island, New Zealand. The effects of trout (brown trout, Salmo trutta, and rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss) on two widespread species, the Canterbury galaxias (Galaxias vulgaris Stokell) and the alpine galaxias (G. paucispondylus Stokell) were assessed. Experiments confirmed that both species were vulnerable to trout predation and that habitat (size and disturbance regime) may be a factor in local co-occurrence. Quantitative electrofishing surveys indicated that G. paucispondylus distributions were less affected by trout than G. vulgaris distributions and that the species’ range was limited by temperature. Trout created demographic sinks for G. vulgaris across most invaded reaches, while refuge populations in streams above barriers to trout acted as demographic sources for this species. G. vulgaris was consistently absent from small, stable stream reaches far from sources, indicating that trout predation pressure and propagule pressure (driven by immigration from sources) interact to drive local G. vulgaris persistence in trout-invaded reaches. Predation pressure is likely to be highest in areas where infrequent flooding allows high densities of large trout (> 150 mm FL) to occur and where there are few refugia for galaxiids. A spatial model was developed to predict exclusion of galaxiids by trout across invaded networks. If used appropriately, the model could be used to find new refuge populations of non-diadromous galaxiids and to aid planning of active rehabilitation of trout-invaded river networks

A new species of mudfish, Neochanna (Teleostei: Galaxidae), from northern New Zealand

A new species of mudfish, Neochanna, is described from Northland. Neochanna heleios n.sp. is known from only three ephemeral wetland sites on the Kerikeri volcanic plateau and is abundant only at the type locality. The new species has a head resembling that of the brown mudfish, Neochanna apoda, and a caudal region resembling that of the black mudfish, Neochanna diversus. It can be distinguished from all Neochanna species in having a reduced number of principal caudal fin rays (13 or less). Morphometric and meristic comparisons with N. apoda and N. diversus are provided

CLOFFAR - update 3 - supplement to Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of Argentina

In May 2016 we have published the second update to CLOFFAR and in these few months a total of 22 changes have summed up. The total number of fishes known from the freshwaters of Argentina has increased to 538, caused by one new Hoplias and 13 first records. Four new combinations and four synonymizations do not have influence on the total count. The paper of most importance in quantity without doubt is the one of Casciotta et al. on their findings in the Iguazú National Park, unfortunately also including two first records of exotic introduced species, Clarias gariepinus and Geophagus brasiliensis. Clarias gariepinus was included in this update against our standard to only recognize records which have been published based on voucher material. In this case the determination could undoubtfully be done based on a photo and this invasive species has been reported before from the lower Iguazú river in Brazil in 2012 already. The confirmation of Crenicichla iguassuensis has undergone some see-saw development in the past and the respective remarks can be found when following the link. Also another publication needs to be commented on: The synonymyzations of four rivulids by Calviño has been published as an isolated statement beyond any systematical context. Nevertheless, it has been formally published and in some of these cases the probability of being synonyms had been stated previously by other authors. Future will show the resilience and acceptance of those synonymizations. The paper of Ortí et al. dates from 2008 and was simply not known to us before and thus, the new combination of Myloplus tiete from Myleus is only included now, eigth years later.Fil: Koerber, Stefan. Gesellschaft für Ichthyolgie; AlemaniaFil: Litz, Thomas O.. Gesellschaft für Ichthyolgie; AlemaniaFil: Mirande, Juan Marcos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico - Tucumán. Unidad Ejecutora Lillo; Argentin