The history of the Atlantic sturgeon, Acipenser oxyrinchus Mitchill, 1815, in the Warta River of Central and Western Poland in the nineteenth century based on Polish sources

An analysis of Polish historical sources indicates that there are no references to sturgeon in the Warta River basin before 1810. It is hypothesized that there was no autochthonic sturgeon population in this river in historic times. The occasional occurrence of fish in the Warta River stemmed from their straying from the Oder River, especially during high waters. The situation changed in the second half of the nineteenth century because increasing pollution in the Oder River meant increasing numbers of fish entered the Warta River. Peak catches by fishers in Poznań were in the 1880s and early 1890s, after which the population collapsed and never recovered. Overfishing in this period stemmed primarily from the effects of regulating the Warta River for navigation. The data presented herein might have implications for the current sturgeon reintroduction program being conducted in the Warta River basin

Figure 7 in Recent evolution of ancient Arctic leech relatives: systematics of Acanthobdellida

Figure 7. Scanning electron micrographs of the anterior body region. A, B, small specimens of Acanthobdella peledina (5 mm; Sweden; A) and Paracanthobdella livanowi (3.5 mm; B). C, D, large specimens of A. peledina (12 mm; Norway; C) and P. livanowi (11 mm; Kamchatka; D). In the large P. livanowi specimen, body segmentation and chaetae in the anterior sucker are barely visible. Arrow, mouth opening; Arabic numerals 1–5 indicate rows of chaetae; d, deepening between pairs of chaetae.Published as part of Carle, Danielle Božena De, Gajda, Łukasz, Bielecki, Aleksander, Cios, Stanisław, Cichocka, Joanna M., Golden, Heidi E., Gryska, Andrew D., Sokolov, Sergey, Shedko, Marina Borisowna, Knudsen, Rune, Utevsky, Serge, Świątek, Piotr & Tessler, Michael, 2022, Recent evolution of ancient Arctic leech relatives: systematics of Acanthobdellida, pp. 149-168 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 196 on page 162, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac006, http://zenodo.org/record/703771

Recent evolution of ancient Arctic leech relatives: systematics of Acanthobdellida

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society following peer review. The version of record Danielle Božena de Carle, Łukasz Gajda, Aleksander Bielecki, Stanisław Cios, Joanna M Cichocka, Heidi E Golden, Andrew D Gryska, Sergey Sokolov, Marina Borisowna Shedko, Rune Knudsen, Serge Utevsky, Piotr Świątek, Michael Tessler, Recent evolution of ancient Arctic leech relatives: systematics of Acanthobdellida, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 196, Issue 1, September 2022, Pages 149–168 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac006Acanthobdellida gnaw into the sides of salmonid fishes in frigid Arctic lakes and rivers, latching on with fearsome facial hooks. Sister to leeches, they are an ancient lineage with two described species. Unfortunately, Acanthobdellida are rarely collected, leading to a paucity of literature despite their unique morphology. Populations range from Eurasia to Alaska (USA), but few specimens of Acanthobdella peledina are represented in molecular studies, and no molecular data exist for Paracanthobdella livanowi, making their taxonomic position difficult to assess. We use phylogenetics and morphology to determine whether allopatric populations of A. peledina are distinct species and assess the current classification scheme used for Acanthobdellida. We produce a new suborder, Acanthobdelliformes, to match the taxonomy within Hirudinea. Scanning electron micrographs indicate species-level differences in the anterior sucker and facial hooks; molecular phylogenetics mirrors this divergence between species. We assign both species to the family Acanthobdellidae and abandon the family Paracanthobdellidae. Alaskan and European A. peledina populations are morphologically similar, but appear phylogenetically divergent. Our data strongly suggest that members of the order Acanthobdellida diverged relatively recently in their ancient history, but based on genetic distance, this divergence appears to pre-date the most recent cycles of glaciation

Figure 6 in Recent evolution of ancient Arctic leech relatives: systematics of Acanthobdellida

Figure 6. Scanning electron micrographs of general morphology in small specimens. A, Acanthobdella peledina (4 mm; Alaska). B, Paracanthobdella livanowi (3.5 mm; Kamchatka). Single black arrows, anterior body region; double black arrows, posterior sucker. In the A. peledina specimen, some fragments of host tissue (white arrow) are still attached to the sucker.Published as part of Carle, Danielle Božena De, Gajda, Łukasz, Bielecki, Aleksander, Cios, Stanisław, Cichocka, Joanna M., Golden, Heidi E., Gryska, Andrew D., Sokolov, Sergey, Shedko, Marina Borisowna, Knudsen, Rune, Utevsky, Serge, Świątek, Piotr & Tessler, Michael, 2022, Recent evolution of ancient Arctic leech relatives: systematics of Acanthobdellida, pp. 149-168 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 196 on page 161, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac006, http://zenodo.org/record/703771