Invasion risks posed by ornamental freshwater fish trade to southeastern Brazilian rivers

A model was developed to assess the risk of invasion of ornamental non-native fishes to six rivers in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil, with focus on species popularity. Thirty-nine aquarium shops, in six cities, were visited monthly from January to December 2007. In each city, fish species were identified, and their biology and invasion history information was obtained from the literature. We calculated the annual frequency of occurrence and average number of specimens monthly available in stores. Quarterly water temperature and dissolved oxygen data from 1997 to 2007 were obtained for the Velhas, Muriaé, Uberabinha, Sapucaí-Mirim, Doce and Todos os Santos Rivers from public databases. The invasion risk of each species was assessed through a model comprising nine parameters grouped in four variables: (i) Invasiveness (thermal and dissolved oxygen ranges, diet, parental care or fecundity), (ii) History of invasions (establishment), (iii) Propagule pressure (commercial success, comprising annual frequency of occurrence and number of specimens available monthly at stores), and (iv) Invasibility (water temperature and dissolved oxygen in the target river compatible with the species ranges). Of the 345 ornamental fish species for sale, 332 are non-native to either Minas Gerais (n = 151) or Brazil (n = 194). Based on the proposed cutting values, in particular the compatibility between species and recipient thermal ranges, five ornamental non-native species (Cyprinus rubrofuscus, Carassius auratus, Xiphophorus hellerii, Poecilia reticulata, and P. latipinna) can potentially invade the Velhas and Muriaé Rivers, four species (Cyprinus rubrofuscus, Carassius auratus, X. helleri, and P. reticulata) the Uberabinha River, four species (Cyprinus rubrofuscus, Carassius auratus, X. maculatus, and P. reticulata) the Sapucaí-Mirim River, three species (Carassius auratus, X. hellerii, and P. reticulata) the Doce River, and three species (Cyprinus rubrofuscus, P. reticulata, and Amatitlania nigrofasciata) can potentially invade the Todos os Santos River. Six recommendations are suggested to reduce the invasion risk of non-native fish on the rivers surveyed posed by aquarium trade

Neotropical freshwater fisheries : A dataset of occurrence and abundance of freshwater fishes in the Neotropics

The Neotropical region hosts 4225 freshwater fish species, ranking first among the world's most diverse regions for freshwater fishes. Our NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set is the first to produce a large-scale Neotropical freshwater fish inventory, covering the entire Neotropical region from Mexico and the Caribbean in the north to the southern limits in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. We compiled 185,787 distribution records, with unique georeferenced coordinates, for the 4225 species, represented by occurrence and abundance data. The number of species for the most numerous orders are as follows: Characiformes (1289), Siluriformes (1384), Cichliformes (354), Cyprinodontiformes (245), and Gymnotiformes (135). The most recorded species was the characid Astyanax fasciatus (4696 records). We registered 116,802 distribution records for native species, compared to 1802 distribution records for nonnative species. The main aim of the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set was to make these occurrence and abundance data accessible for international researchers to develop ecological and macroecological studies, from local to regional scales, with focal fish species, families, or orders. We anticipate that the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set will be valuable for studies on a wide range of ecological processes, such as trophic cascades, fishery pressure, the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation, and the impacts of species invasion and climate change. There are no copyright restrictions on the data, and please cite this data paper when using the data in publications