New records and range extensions to the Costa Rican freshwater fish fauna, with an updated checklist

The knowledge of the Costa Rican freshwater fish fauna continues to grow given the discovery of new taxa, the recognition of taxa resurrected from synonymy and the corroboration of new country records and new range extensions. Moreover, recent advances in the understanding of the phylogenetic relationships and status of many supraspecific groups have led to numerous taxonomic and nomenclatural changes. Given this, the purpose of this paper is to update the known composition, distribution and clasification of the Costa Rican freshwater fish fauna taking as reference the most recent list for the country published by Angulo et al. (2013). A total of 23 new country records (i.e., species; distributed in 17 families and 21 genera), 33 new range extensions (distributed in 20 families and 30 genera) and several nomenclatural changes are reported, illustrated and discussed here. An updated and annotated checklist of the freshwater fishes of the country (including data for a total of 283 species, 13 of which are exotic, distributed in two classes, 27 orders, 55 families and 136 genera) is also provided.

Importance of fish biodiversity in conservation planning of Brazilian National Parks

Protected areas are essential for the maintenance of biodiversity. In Brazil, national parks encompass one of the most important portions of this area (26.864.003,74ha) that needs to be adequately managed to achieve conservation. Aiming to understand how the ichthyofauna data is included in management plans of Brazilian National Parks, we review 55 Brazilian national parks management plans to compare how data of freshwater fish fauna are included in these documents. The data evaluated from management plans were Hydrography, ichthyofauna list, participation of professionals trained in rapid ecological assessment and species richness, endangered and invasive species. This information was used to categorize the management plans through two sets of assessing: quality of rapid ecological assessment and coverage of species diversity. The categorization results were assumed as an indicator of the potential for biodiversity conservation of the management plans. We compare obtained results between biomes. We were able to understand that many of the Brazilian National Parks do not have management plans, and among the plans that are prepared, the lack of essential information compromises their potential for the conservation of biodiversity. We highlight the need to improve management plans for the Caatinga parks and expand the analysis of invasive species for all biomes.

On the freshwater fish fauna of Krishna River, Sangli District, Maharashtra, India

Freshwater fish fauna of Krishna River, Sangli district was studied from 2013 to 2017. A total of 73 species belonging to 10 orders, 22 families, and 49 genera were recorded, of which, 29 species are endemic to the Western Ghats and 11 species endemic to the Krishna River system. Labeo kontius, an endemic barb of the Cauvery River System was recorded for the first time from the Krishna River, Maharashtra. As per the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 54 species are assessed as ‘Least Concern’, four species as ‘Near Threatened’, three species as ‘Vulnerable’, five as ‘Endangered’, and two as ‘Data Deficient’. The conservation status of two species has not yet been assessed. Fish fauna of the Krishna River within the study area is threatened as a result of alien species, and several anthropogenic stressors such as pollution from industrial as well as agricultural sources, human settlements, and overfishing. Since, this small study area harbours 28 endemic and eight threatened species, their conservation should be given high priority.

Effective reassessments of freshwater fish species: a case study in a Mediterranean peninsula

IUCN Red List assessments for fish species can quickly become out of date. In recent years molecular techniques have added new ways of obtaining information about species distribution or populations. In this work, we propose the Iberian Peninsula as an example of reassessment needs in its endangered freshwater fish fauna. We compiled the list of freshwater fish species occurring in continental Spain and Portugal and examined their conservation status in global and national Red Lists. We retrieved records for these species in the Iberian Peninsula and calculated several biological indexes (richness and vulnerability indexes). Our results showed a patchy data coverage of fish records in the Iberian Peninsula. Threat levels reported within national Red Lists are higher than their global counterparts, reinforcing the necessity of improving and maintaining up to date national Red Lists. Iberian watersheds have moderate levels of threat and high levels of out of date assessments. The nearly fully completed genetic databases for Iberian fish species, along with the limited distribution of many endangered species and the necessity of update their assessments constitute an excellent opportunity to use data obtained from eDNA to improve species monitoring practices and their conservation status.

Status of Endemic Freshwater Fish Fauna Inhabiting Major Lakes of Turkey under the Threats of Climate Change and Anthropogenic Disturbances: A Review

Due to its peculiar geographical position and its environmental heterogeneity, Turkey represents an important biodiversity hotspot for freshwater fish fauna. Unfortunately, native fish communities of Turkey, mainly from lentic ecosystems, have been massively altered in the past decades. Furthermore, these species, especially the endemic species, are now threatened by several human activities in addition to the global issue of climatic changes. The aim of this paper is to provide an updated review on the current status of endemic fish species from main lakes of Turkey including major threats affecting fish assemblages. By gathering data from the literature and authors’ personal observations, 62 endemic fish species were reported to occur in the considered 37 Turkish Lakes. The presence of non-native species, agriculture activities, climatic drought, and decreasing water level were found to be the threats that most affect the fish communities of the considered Turkish Lakes.

Decline in New Zealand's freshwater fish fauna: Effect of land use

© 2019 CSIRO. The number of New Zealand's freshwater fish listed as threatened has increased since 1992 when the first New Zealand threat classification system list was compiled. In this study, temporal and land cover-related trends were analysed for data on freshwater fish distribution, comprising more than 20 000 records for the 47 years from January 1970 to January 2017 from the New Zealand Freshwater Fish Database. The analysis included individual species abundance and distribution trends, as well as an index of fish community integrity, namely the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI). Of the 25 fish species that met the requirements for analysis to determine changes in the proportion of sites they occupied over time, 76% had negative trends (indicating declining occurrence). Of the 20 native species analysed for the proportion of sites occupied over time, 75% had negative trends; 65% of these were significant declines and more species were in decline at pasture sites than natural cover sites. The average IBI score also declined over the time period and, when analysed separately, the major land cover types revealed that the IBI declined at pasture catchment sites but not at sites with natural vegetation catchments.

Decline in New Zealand's freshwater fish fauna: Effect of land use

© 2019 CSIRO. The number of New Zealand's freshwater fish listed as threatened has increased since 1992 when the first New Zealand threat classification system list was compiled. In this study, temporal and land cover-related trends were analysed for data on freshwater fish distribution, comprising more than 20 000 records for the 47 years from January 1970 to January 2017 from the New Zealand Freshwater Fish Database. The analysis included individual species abundance and distribution trends, as well as an index of fish community integrity, namely the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI). Of the 25 fish species that met the requirements for analysis to determine changes in the proportion of sites they occupied over time, 76% had negative trends (indicating declining occurrence). Of the 20 native species analysed for the proportion of sites occupied over time, 75% had negative trends; 65% of these were significant declines and more species were in decline at pasture sites than natural cover sites. The average IBI score also declined over the time period and, when analysed separately, the major land cover types revealed that the IBI declined at pasture catchment sites but not at sites with natural vegetation catchments.

Annotated list of livebearing fishes (Cyprinodontiformes: Poeciliinae) from Lake Miragoane in Southwestern Haiti, Hispaniola

Within the Caribbean region Lake Miragoane in southwestern Haiti represents one of the most important radiation centers of livebearing fishes of the subfamily Poeciliinae. However, there is a lack of scientific studies documenting the distribution, number of species and conservation status of the fishes from that lake. In this work, an annotated list of livebearing fishes, the most well represented group of aquatic vertebrates in Lake Miragoane, is presented with the corresponding species identification and images. This is the first study in the last 40 years to capture most of the fish diversity in the lake originated from the subgenus Limia and especially in the species flock represented by the subgenus Odontolimia. It also includes two recently described species: Limia islai and L. mandibularis. Here we also report some conservation threats to the endemic freshwater fish fauna from Lake Miragoane that should be addressed to preserve the biodiversity in this important area.