Le Snakehead Is In La River

A large Indonesian snakehead fish (Channa micropeltes) was found dead in the Saint Charles River in Quebec last month - possibly the first find of this species in the wild in Quebec. It's thought to be a released pet. Need a French translation? Try this forum (towards the bottom of the page)

The Age of Aquaria

Conservation Maven has an article about an interesting new study exploring aquariums as vectors for the accidental introduction of exotic species.

Aquarama Clamor

Attendees at Aquarama 2009, this year's International Ornamental Fish and Accessories Exhibition, will be treated to a special one-day conference about invasive species organized by the trade association Ornamental Fish International. The conference will feature speakers from across the world, covering topics from the aquarium industry as an invasive species pathway to the approach that different coutnries take to dealing with invaders. The bad news (for me anyway) - Aquarama is all the way in Singapore. If you're in the neighborhood or up for the flight, register here.

A-Fish-al Business

Adelaide Now is reporting that yet another aquarium fish has managed to become established in the wild in Australia. Officials aren't quite sure how the Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) is getting around in Queensland, but they suspect it is due to a combination of releases of unwanted aquarium fish and the transport (intentional or accidental) of the tilapia from one body of water to another. Mozambique tilapia are tolerant of a wide range of environmental conditions, which may have contributed to their success in the lakes and rivers of Queensland since their discovery about 30 years ago.

Fish Feud

This report over at NewScientist details a recent study revealing that invasive guppies (Poecilia reticulata) are sexually harassing native fish in the waters where they have been introduced. The badgering of females of other species by male guppies prevents native males from getting their mating time, and may discourage females from mating altogether. It doesn't help matters that the mating rituals of the guppies tend to be much more violent than their native competitors. The research, which focuses on the impact of the establishment of this popular aquarium fish in Mexican waters, was recently published in the journal Biology Letters (sorry, that's abstract-only, unless you or your library has a subscription).

New And Notable

The latest and greatest in species introductions:

• Sudden oak death (Phytophthora ramorum) was discovered in Lithuania, in nursery stock imported from Poland. The plants are under quarantine so hopefully the pathogen won't be sticking around.
• The Asian hornet Vespa velutina has been discovered in France. This hornet species is not much of a direct nuisance to humans, but unfortunately they like to eat honeybees.
• They've found another Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) in New York, second one ever.
• There are a bunch of new discoveries in Puerto Rico, and as usual, they sound like the selection you'd find at your local aquarium store:
  • The sailfin molly (Poecilia latipinna)
  • The blue gourami (Trichogaster trichopterus sumatranus)
  • The African jewelfish (Hemichromis letourneuxi, id tentative)
• Also new to Puerto Rico: water spangles (Salvinia minima)

Sources: The EPPO Reporting Service #10 and the USGS NAS Alert system.

Weekend Blog Blogging

The past week in invasive species via the rest of the blogosphere:

• Missouri Stream Team #2945 discovered evidence of someone dumping the contents of their aquarium in the Spring River...either that or Missouri's riverbeds have got naturally royal blue gravel :-).
• Hoosier Wordsmith muses about planting English ivy...and later unplanting it.
• The From the Field blog has a post about soil sampling as a way of learning more about the distribution of black and pale swallow-wort.

Buy Buy!

From ACES News comes this press release about a recent study that revealed just how little we know about the aquatic plants and animals that are sold in the USA. Biologists Reuben Keller and David Lodge looked at pet stores, fish markets, and plant nurseries and found three major problems (emphasis and bullets are mine):

• Some companies are selling known invasive species, as well as species recognized as potential invaders.
• Species for sale are often misidentified, or labeled only with a common name, making it difficult to figure out exactly what is being sold. One result of this is that invasive plants and animals are sneaking through...but perhaps what is worse is that some companies aren't even checking.
• Contamination! The abstract seems to be saying that ninety percent of the plants ordered by the researchers contained other plants or animals when they arrived!

This research was just published in the latest issue of the journal BioScience...sorry, only an abstract is available if you don't have a subscription - heck, I can't even get online access through my own university!

Thanks to John R. from Don Watcher for sending in a copy of the press release.

A final note: There are plenty of responsible companies out there that make the effort necessary to avoid selling or transmitting invasive organisms - so give your business to them, and let other companies know that you care about invasive species and don't want to buy them or accidentally introduce them to your own little corner of the world!

The Age Of Aquaria

From the looks of these USGS Non-indigenous Aquatic Species Alerts (new reports of discoveries from May 2006 and earlier), Puerto must be turning into one giant fish tank:

• Rosy barbs (Puntius conchonius) [so common, they are now being used as bait fish]
• Congo tetras (Phenacogrammus interruptus)
• Tiger barbs (Puntius tetrazona)
• Red devils (Cichlasoma labiatum)
• midas cichlids (Cichlasoma citrinellum) [also here]
• Rio Grande cichlid (Cichlasoma cyanoguttatum)
• Convict cichlids (Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum)
• Sailfin catfish (Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus)

For more information, check out this page from MongaBay - it's a list of known fish species in Puerto Rico, marked as native or non-native, with links to their FishBase species pages. Fifty-six percent introduced (30 species) - very impressive!