Ecological Impact of Alien Marine Fishes: Insights From Freshwater Systems Based on a Comparative Review

SMC Author

Michael Marchetti

SMC Affiliated Work

1

Status

Faculty

School

School of Science

Department

Environmental and Earth Science

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2018

Publication / Conference / Sponsorship

Hydrobiologia

Description/Abstract

We review the literature of marine non-indigenous fishes (NIF) in order to summarize information on their ecological impacts and to compare successful invading freshwater fishes with those in marine habitats. An increasing number of marine NIF have been observed colonizing new areas through a suite of different pathways (the main ones being inter-oceanic canals, shipping, aquaculture, and aquarium release). Ecological impacts of marine NIF have been verified for only a few of these species. These impacts can be categorized as (i) an alteration of habitat or food webs; (ii) competition with natives; (iii) predation on natives; (iv) vectoring parasites or pathogens; or (v) genetic impacts on native species. The few marine NIF with known impacts contrasts sharply with freshwater NIF taxa, for which negative ecological impacts have been widely identified. The literature review comparing freshwater and marine NIF does not reveal different species traits to explain the higher impact of freshwater NIF. We discuss a suite of ecological factors that may explain these differences. One non-ecological factor contributing to the perceived higher impact in freshwater may be the lower level of ecological knowledge in marine systems due to overall less research efforts and technical and financial challenges imposed by marine research.

Keywords

Fish, Biological invasion, Ecological impact, Marine habitat, Freshwater, Ecological traits

Scholarly

yes

DOI

10.1007/s10750-018-3511-5

Volume

817

Issue

1

First Page

457

Last Page

474

Disciplines

Earth Sciences | Environmental Sciences

Original Citation

Arndt, E., M. P. Marchetti and P. J. Schembri, July 2018. Ecological impact of alien marine fishes: insights from freshwater systems based on a comparative review. Hydrobiologia 817(1): 457-474. doi:10.1007/s10750-018-3511-5

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS