A new species of pseudophoxinus (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) from Southwestern Anatolia, Turkey

YOGURTCUOGLU, Baran/0000-0001-8144-6191;WOS: 000363695700006PubMed: 26624395Pseudophoxinus mehmeti, new cyprinid species from the Alankoy basin in south-western Turkey, is distinguished from all species of Pseudophoxinus in adjacent regions by the combination of the following characters: body slender, its length 1.3-1.5 times its depth; caudal peduncle length 1.6-2.0 times its depth; mouth almost superior, with the tip of the mouthcleft approximately level with the middle of the pupil; snout with a pointed tip, its length markedly greater than eye diameter; lateral line not complete, with 30-50 perforated scales and 48-60+2 scale rows in lateral series; 111/2-131/2 scale rows between lateral line and dorsal-fin origin, 31/2-51/2 scale rows between lateral line and anal-fin origin; dorsal-fin with 61/2-71/2 branched rays; anal-fin with 61/2-71/2 branched rays; a distinct black epidermal stripe from eye to caudal-fin base in preserved individuals

Alburnoides manyasensis (Actinopterygii, Cyprinidae), a new species of cyprinid fish from Manyas Lake basin, Turkey

GUCLU, Salim Serkan/0000-0002-9256-449X; Kaya, Cuneyt/0000-0002-4531-798XWOS: 000315765700006PubMed: 23794819Alburnoides manyasensis, sp. n., is described from the Koca Stream (Lake Manyas drainage, Marmara Sea basin) in Anatolia. It is distinguished from all species of Alburnoides in Turkey and adjacent regions, Alburnoides tzanevi (Rezovska [Rezve], Istranca and Terkos streams in the western Black Sea drainage), Alburnoides cf. smyrnae (Banaz Stream, a drainage of Buyuk Menderes River, Aegean Sea basin), Alburnoides fasciatus (streams and rivers in the eastern Black Sea drainage) and Alburnoides eichwaldii (Kura and Aras rivers [a drainage of Kura River], Caspian Sea basin) by a combination of the following characters (none unique to the species): marked hump at nape, especially in specimens larger than 60 mm SL; partly developed ventral keel between pelvic fin and anal fin, scaleless 1/2 to 2/3 its length; body depth at dorsalfin origin 29-32% SL; caudal peduncle depth 11-12% SL; 45-52+ 2-3 lateral-line scales; 9-12 scale rows between lateral line and dorsal-fin origin; 4-5 scale rows between lateral line and anal-fin origin, 101/2-121/2 branched anal-fin rays; 40-42 total vertebrae

A global review and meta-analysis of applications of the freshwater Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit

The freshwater Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK) has been applied in 35 risk assessment areas in 45 countries across the six inhabited continents (11 applications using FISK v1; 25 using FISK v2). The present study aimed: to assess the breadth of FISK applications and the confidence (certainty) levels associated with the decision-support tool’s 49 questions and its ability to distinguish between taxa of low-to-medium and high risk of becoming invasive, and thus provide climate-specific, generalised, calibrated thresholds for risk level categorisation; and to identify the most potentially invasive freshwater fish species on a global level. The 1973 risk assessments were carried out by 70 + experts on 372 taxa (47 of the 51 species listed as invasive in the Global Invasive Species Database www.iucngisd.org/gisd/), which in decreasing order of importance belonged to the taxonomic Orders Cypriniformes, Perciformes, Siluriformes, Characiformes, Salmoniformes, Cyprinodontiformes, with the remaining ≈ 8% of taxa distributed across an additional 13 orders. The most widely-screened species (in decreasing importance) were: grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella, common carp Cyprinus carpio, rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix and topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva. Nine ‘globally’ high risk species were identified: common carp, black bullhead Ameiurus melas, round goby Neogobius melanostomus, Chinese (Amur) sleeper Perccottus glenii, brown bullhead Ameiurus nebulosus, eastern mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki, largemouth (black) bass Micropterus salmoides, pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus and pikeperch Sander lucioperca. The relevance of this global review to policy, legislation, and risk assessment and management procedures is discussed

Three new species of Alburnoides (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) from Euphrates River, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey

Turan, Davut, Kaya, Cüneyt, Ekmekçi, F. Güler, Doğan, Esra (2014): Three new species of Alburnoides (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) from Euphrates River, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey. Zootaxa 3754 (2): 101-116, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3754.2.

The discovery of a microbialite-associated freshwater fish in the world’s largest saline soda lake, Lake Van (Turkey)

Lake Van is the largest saline soda lake in the world and one of the world’s few endorheic lakes of greater than 3,000 km2 surface area. Despite its huge size, no fish species have so far been known to permanently occur in this lake due to its extreme environmental conditions. Here, we report the discovery of a fish population that permanently inhabits some of the unique microbialites of the lake, at a maximum depth of 13 m and about 500 m offshore. We tested whether this is an undescribed species or a new occurrence of a known species. A molecular and morphological examination showed that the newly discovered fish represents an isolated population of Oxynoemacheilus ercisianus, the only nemacheilid loach native to the freshwater tributaries of the Lake Van endorheic basin. Our further hypotheses on the prediction that (a) stream fishes would have a more anterior placement of fins than lake fishes were supported; but, that (b) stream fishes would be more slender bodied than their lake conspecifics was not supported. The lake dwelling population also shows very small sequence divergence (0.5% K2P distance) to its stream dwelling conspecific in the mtDNA-COI barcode region. The notable morphological difference with minute molecular divergence implies that the newly discovered population might have lost its link to freshwater during desiccation and transgressional phases of the Lake Van, and has adapted to a life on the microbialites

Three new species of Alburnoides from the southern Black Sea basin (Teleostei: Cyprinidae)

Turan, Davut, Kaya, Cüneyt, Bayçelebi, Esra, Bektaş, Yusuf, Ekmekçi, F. Güler (2017): Three new species of Alburnoides from the southern Black Sea basin (Teleostei: Cyprinidae). Zootaxa 4242 (3): 565-577, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4242.3.

Alien freshwater fish species in the Balkans-Vectors and pathways of introduction

Fish introductions, particularly in areas of high biological diversity and endemism, represent a major threat for biodiversity. In the Balkan Peninsula, 60 fish species have been introduced to date, of which 36 have become naturalized in inland waters. Since the Balkans are one of the world's 35 biodiversity hot spots, this large presence of alien fish species poses a serious threat for the stability of freshwater ecosystems and the survival of the native ichthyofauna and of aquatic biodiversity in general. The motivation for the introductions, and the historical timeline, varies among the Balkan states. Despite recent attempts to implement and align legislation aimed at preventing the introduction of potentially invasive species, and the implementation of rigorous controls of introductions and increased protection of open waters, the majority of current introductions remain intentional, primarily via aquaculture. This review article provides a historical overview of freshwater fish introductions, the motivation behind them a nd the current distribution of alien freshwater fishes in the Balkans. The ecological implications and future perspectives concerning alien fish species in the region are also discussed

Economic costs of non-native species in Türkiye: A first national synthesis

Biological invasions are increasingly recognised as a major global change that erodes ecosystems, societal well-being, and economies. However, comprehensive analyses of their economic ramifications are missing for most national economies, despite rapidly escalating costs globally. Türkiye is highly vulnerable to biological invasions owing to its extensive transport network and trade connections as well as its unique transcontinental position at the interface of Europe and Asia. This study presents the first analysis of the reported economic costs caused by biological invasions in Türkiye. The InvaCost database which compiles invasive non-native species’ monetary costs was used, complemented with cost searches specific to Türkiye, to describe the spatial and taxonomic attributes of costly invasive non-native species, the types of costs, and their temporal trends. The total economic cost attributed to invasive non-native species in Türkiye (from 202 cost reporting documents) amounted to US$4.1 billion from 1960 to 2022. However, cost data were only available for 87 out of 872 (10$ 2.85 billion, followed by the fishery sector with a total cost of US$1.20 billion. Management (i.e., control and eradication) costs were, against expectations, substantially higher than reported damage costs (US$ 2.89 billion vs. US$28.4 million). Yearly costs incurred by non-native species rose exponentially over time, reaching US$ 504 million per year in 2020–2022 and are predicted to increase further in the next 10 years. A large deficit of cost records compared to other countries was also shown, suggesting a larger monetary underestimate than is typically observed. These findings underscore the need for improved cost recording as well as preventative management strategies to reduce future post-invasion management costs and help inform decisions to manage the economic burdens posed by invasive non-native species. These insights further emphasise the crucial role of standardised data in accurately estimating the costs associated with invasive non-native species for prioritisation and communication purposes