Zoologia (Curitiba) (Jun 2018)

Escapes of non-native fish from flooded aquaculture facilities: the case of Paranapanema River, southern Brazil

  • Armando César Rodrigues Casimiro,
  • Diego Azevedo Zoccal Garcia,
  • Ana Paula Vidotto-Magnoni,
  • John Robert Britton,
  • Ângelo Antônio Agostinho,
  • Fernanda Simões de Almeida,
  • Mário Luís Orsi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3897/zoologia.35.e14638
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 35, no. 0

Abstract

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ABSTRACT Non-native species are a major driver of biodiversity loss. Aquaculture activities play a key role in introductions, including the escape of fishes from fish farm facilities. Here, the impact of flooding due to El Niño rains in 2015/2016 in the Lower and Middle Paranapanema River basin, southern Brazil, was investigated by evaluating fish escapes from 12 fish farms. The flooding resulted in the escape of approximately 1.14 million fishes into the river, encompassing 21 species and three hybrids. Non-native species were the most abundant escapees, especially Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Coptodon rendalli (Boulenger, 1897) (96% of all fish). Only seven native fishes were in the escapee fauna, comprising 1% of all fish. Large floods, coupled with inadequate biosecurity, thus resulted in considerable inputs of non-native fish into this already invaded system.

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