Parasites of stone loach Barbatula barbatula (L., 1758) (Balitoridae) in small rivers of the upper and Middle Volga Basin

Infection by parasites has been studied in 189 specimens of Barbatula barbatula (Linnaeus, 1758) from eight rivers in Yaroslavl province over 4 years. A total of 41 parasite species are identified in stone loach. The following parasite taxa have been found: parasitic Protozoa (Kinetoplastidea (2), Myxozoa (6), and Ciliophora (7)) and parasitic Metazoa (Monogenea (5), Cestoda (4), Trematoda (9), Nematoda (4), Acanthocephala (3), and Bivalvia (1)). Stone loach is recorded for the first time as a new host for seven parasite species: Chloromyxum truttae Lèger, 1906, Gyrodactylus cobitis Bychowsky, 1933, Paracaryophylaeus gotoi (Motomura, 1927), Neogryporhynchus cheilancristrotus (Wedl, 1955), Paracoenogonimus ovatus Katsurada, 1914, Camallanus truncates (Rudolphi, 1814), and Neoechinorhynchus crassus Van Cleave, 1919. The most abundant parasites are Raphidascaris acus (Bloch, 1779) (28.6–100%, 1–64), Crepidostomum oschmarini Zhokhov et Pugacheva, 1998 (18.2–71.4%, 1–40), Paracoenogonimus ovatus (3.13–71.4% 1–34), and Gyrodactylus nemachili Bychowsky, 1936 (3.85–100%, 1–65).     

The biology of stone loach Barbatula barbatulus in the Rivers Goloustnaya and Olkha, East Siberia

Five hundred and four stone loach 63–202 mm in total length, of I + to 8 + age groups, were sampled in two rivers of East Siberia from April to October 1989–90. This paper presents data on the seasonal dynamics of fecundity, ripening, fatness and feeding intensity. A second spawning from the end of August to October has been identified for the first time for this species. The absolute fecundity ranged from 1710 to 27600, and the relative fecundity varied from 216 to 833 eggs g⁻¹: (fish weight). Stone loach in the River Olkha grew faster than those in the River Goloustnaya and, according to this index, are closer to stone loach from streams of northern England.     

Spatial and ontogenetic variability in the microhabitat use of stream-dwelling spined loach (Cobitis taenia) and stone loach (Barbatula barbatula)

Ontogenetic and spatial variability in microhabitat use of spined loach Cobitis taenia (Linnaeus), considered as one species for the purposes of this study, and stone loach Barbatula barbatula (Linnaeus) were examined in the River Great Ouse basin, England, using multivariate and habitat suitability methods, including a technique for handling spatial variation in collections of preference curves. Distinct ordinations of spined age classes and stone loach developmental stages, respectively, in canonical correspondence analysis of species × variables × samples relationships suggest that the two species occupy completely different microhabitats; however, young‐of‐the‐year spined loach occurred more often than expected with all developmental stages of stone loach except young larvae. Water velocity and filamentous algae were the most influential microhabitat variables, the latter decreasing in importance with increasing age of both fish species. Preferred water velocities generally decreased with age in spined loach and increased in stone loach, with substratum size generally increasing with fish age in both species. Spatial variation in microhabitat preferences was great in both species but less so in the spined loach, suggesting that limited plasticity in habitat use could account, at least in part, for the latter species’ limited distribution and abundance in the catchment. Preference curves for a species, if generated and verified for all life intervals and all seasons, could be used as a management tool for a given stream or sector of river basin. But preference curves should be generated for each location to ensure that river management decisions with regard habitat and species conservation consider local‐level species requirements. Thus, a multi‐(eco)species and multi‐scale approach is required in habitat suitability assessments.     

Life‐history traits of the stone loach Barbatula barbatula

The life‐history tactics of the stone loach Barbatula barbatula were studied in a Mediterranean‐type climate stream (Matarranya River) located in the Ebro River basin (north‐east Spain). Maximum observed ages were 2+ years in both sexes (1% of individuals), although only 0+ and 1+ year age groups were well represented. It is the lowest longevity reported for this species in its entire distribution. The seasonal growth period started in June and continued until November, but the pattern observed was different to northern populations. Barbatula barbatula in the Matarranya River was a multiple spawner, releasing small batches of oocytes between April and June. The fecundity of females was higher and the size of oocytes smaller in 1984 than in 1985. The relative fecundity (number of ripening and ripe oocytes g^?1 of fish) was lower than in northern European populations. The role of the particular environmental conditions of a Mediterranean stream was discussed in relation to the life‐history tactics of B. barbatula.     

On the origin of endemic stone charr in the Kamchatka River basin

Hydrobiologia - The Kamchatka River basin (Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia) is populated by numerous anadromous and resident forms of charr, Salvelinus, including the endemic stone charr, a specialized...     

Seasonal dynamics of Proteocephalus sagittus in the stone loach Barbatula barbatula from the Hana River, Czech Republic

The seasonal cycle of the cestode Proteocephalus sagittus (Cestoda: Proteocephalidae) was studied for the first time in the stone loach Barbatula barbatula from the Hana River, Czech Republic. A total of 180 loaches were examined monthly from January to December 2001. The parasite occurred in loaches throughout the year but infection parameters differed significantly among seasons, with the highest values of prevalence and abundance from the late winter to the early summer. Parasite recruitment took place in the winter and early spring and the worms sexually matured in the late spring and early summer. In contrast to P. torulosus, the gravid worms of which laid eggs only at the end of the spring/beginning of the summer, gravid worms of P. sagittus were also found, although in low numbers, in the autumn and early winter. The rate of infection of loach with P. sagittus was neither dependent on the sex nor on the size of its fish host.     

Around or across the Carpathians: colonization model of the Danube basin inferred from genetic diversification of stone loach (Barbatula barbatula) populations

Despite increasing information about postglacial recolonization of European freshwater systems, very little is known about pre-Pleistocene history. We used data on the recent distribution and phylogenetic relationships of stone loach mitochondrial lineages to reconstruct the initial colonization pattern of the Danube river system, one of the most important refuges for European freshwater ichthyofauna. Fine-scale phylogeography of the Danubian populations revealed five highly divergent lineages of pre-Pleistocene age and suggested the multiple origin of the Danubian stone loach. The mean sequence divergence among lineages extended from 7.0% to 13.4%, which is the highest intraspecific divergence observed so far within this river system. Based on the phylogeographical patterns, we propose the following hypothesis to relate the evolution and dispersal of the studied species with the evolution of the Danube river system and the Carpathian Mountains: (i) during the warmer period in the Miocene, the areas surrounding the uplifting Alps and Carpathians served as mountainous refuges for cold-water adapted fish and promoted the diversification of its populations, and (ii) from these refuges, colonization of the emerging Danube river system may have taken place following the retreat of the Central Paratethys. Co-existence of highly divergent mtDNA lineages in a single river system shows that range shifts in response to climatic changes during the Quaternary did not cause extensive genetic homogenization in the stone loach populations. However, the wide distribution of some mtDNA lineages indicates that the Pleistocene glaciations promoted the dispersal and mixing of populations through the lowlands.     

Taste preferences and behavior of testing gustatory qualities of food in stone loach <Emphasis Type="Italic">Barbatula barbatula</Emphasis> (Balitoridae,Cypriniformes)

Extraoral and intraoral taste preferences of stone loach Barbatula barbatula to 21 free amino acid (L-isomers) and 4 classic taste substances were established. It was found that most amino acids (19), as well as citric acid and calcium chloride are suppressants, i.e., significantly decrease grasping of artificial pellets. Such action is most typical of cysteine, glutamine, asparagine, and citric acids. The number of deterrent stimuli among the used substances is smaller than that of suppressants. Only aquatic chironomid extract has positive gustatory properties. The remaining substances have no pronounced taste properties. Touching of a pellet by barbels is an obligatory element of behavior of testing by fish of pellet properties always preceding grasping. It was found that the subsequent development of feeding behavior of fish proceeds according to one of the possible behavioral stereotypes of testing by fish of taste properties of food items. The revealed behavioral response stereotypes differ in the number of manipulations performed by fish with a food item (rejections and repeated graspings) and in the duration of its retention. Stereotype selection is determined by the extraoral taste attractiveness of the food item for fish.     

赤水河外来鱼类尖头(鱥)和董氏须鳅的引种溯源及生态适应性分析

历史上,赤水河流域干流及支流的鱼类物种组成中未曾出现过尖头(鱥)(Rhynchocypris oxycephalus)和董氏须鳅(Barbatula toni).但是,近年来在赤水河支流白沙河的鱼类资源调查中发现了这两个物种的分布,其来源及未来的生存可能性受到关注.本研究比较了尖头(鱥)赤水河野外种群与养殖种群形态上的...     

Taste preferences and feeding behavior of the stone loach <Emphasis Type=Italic>Barbatula barbatula</Emphasis> (Balitoridae,Cypriniformes) after partial deprivation of circum-mouth external gustatory and tactile receptors

Comparative study of the feeding behavior and gustatory preferences mediated by extraoral and intraoral gustatory reception in the stone loach Barbatula barbatula in the norm and 1–6 months after extirpation of all three pairs of barbels was performed. It was found that partial loss of external gustatory receptors and the sensory deficit caused by it do not lead to any noticeable disturbances of the ability of fish to evaluate taste properties of food objects (artificial agar-agar pellets containing L-isomers of alanine, lysine, cysteine or an water extract of chironomid larvae) and make an adequate decision of their grasping or ignoring and swallowing or refusing. The extirpation of the barbels does not influence feeding behavior related to determination by fish of the taste properties of pellets and completely retains in its ritual an obligatory preliminary examination of the food object using external gustatory reception. It is suggested that external taste buds having different localization are equally capable of providing for fish a preliminary evaluation of the taste properties of the object. After extirpation of the barbels, the efficiency of grasping pellets decreases in fish, which indicates an important role of tactile reception in the determination of the site of location of the food object and in providing of the accuracy of the hunter’s dart in fish with a weak vision development.     

Physoschistura chindwinensis, a new balitorid loach from Chindwin basin, Manipur, India (Teleostei: Balitoridae)

Physoschistura chindwinensis, a new balitorid species, is described from the Chindwin basin, Manipur, India. It is easily distinguished from congeners by the combination of characters: a dorsal fin with three simple and 8? branched rays; body with 13–17 dark-brown bars on the sides, and 11–16 dark-brown saddles; interorbital space with a rectangular dark-brown shield-like mark; a caudal fin with 8?+?8 branched rays; a moderately developed axillary pelvic lobe; males with a suborbital flap; preoperculomandibular canal with seven pores; and an air bladder with a well-formed free posterior chamber.     

Multiple origins of stone loach,Barbatula barbatula (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae), in Sweden based on mitochondrial DNA

Stone loach, Barbatula barbatula, occurs in scattered localities in Sweden. Some of the populations have usually been considered as feral descendants of escaped 18th Century pond stock, but historical documentation is inconclusive. Using the mitochondrial COI gene as a marker, we analyzed specimens from seven Swedish localities. One of the middle Swedish localities, in Stockholm, belongs to a haplotype found also in Poland and Lithuania. Two other samples, from near Nyköping and Lake Hjälmaren, belong to a haplotype found in northeastern Europe (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Volga basin in Russia). Those two Swedish populations are probably descendants from at least two introductions, probably for pond rearing for human consumption. Samples from Skåne and Halland in southern Sweden belong to the haplotype found in Denmark, northern Germany and Poland; and whereas it remains possible that they also represent feral populations, they may be naturally occurring, having reached Sweden during the Ancylus period, about 8,000–10,000 years ago. A recently discovered population from the central South Swedish Highlands belongs to a mainly southeastern European haplotype. It probably represents a release of imported aquarium specimens or live bait carried by sport fishing tourists.     

Distribution of fish and the biotopic structure of the basin of the small salmon river (the Nachilova River,Western Kamchatka)

For one of the small Western Kamchatka rivers, according to the combination of several characteristics (watershed, channel slope, water abundance of the flow, pattern of bottom sediments), the classification of channel processes was performed, and on its basis, six biotopes successively replacing each other from the effluents to the mouth were separated. It was shown that against the background of relatively stable conditions of the summer-autumn period, an independent population of Salmonoidei, an assembly, is formed within each biotope. This is manifested in specific features of species composition, size and age structure, and the density of populating biotopes. The stability of the distribution of fish population is supported by constant species composition in particular biotopes over three years and by a comparatively high level of residence of the dominant salmon species.     

Old fish in a young lake: stone loach (Pisces: Barbatula barbatula) populations in Lake Constance are genetically isolated by distance

The genetic structure of 10 populations (453 individuals) of stone loach (Barbatula barbatula L.), a small bottom-dwelling cyprinid fish, in the littoral zone of Lake Constance, central Europe, was investigated by analysing the mitochondrial control region sequences and five microsatellite loci. An unexpectedly high degree of genetic diversity (up to 0.36%) and old estimated age of these populations (> 150 000 years) based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was found. These findings contrast with the relatively young age of the lake, which could be colonized by fish only after the last ice age around 15 000 bp. Stone loach appears to be an old species in a young lake. Both types of molecular markers showed population genetic structure pronounced in mtDNA (overall F(ST) = 0.15) but moderate in microsatellites (F(ST) = 0.03). As predicted by its life history, philopatry, and limited capacity for dispersal, stone loach populations of Lake Constance show a clear pattern of isolation by distance. Geographic distances along the shores are the best explanation for the observed geographical distribution of genetic differentiation (r = 0.88), indicating that open water represents a barrier for the dispersal of the stone loach. The colonization of Lake Constance might have occurred initially at one location and then populations spread throughout the lake in a stepwise manner following the shoreline, and subsequently remained largely genetically isolated as suggested by the large observed differences among them.     

Distribution and certain features of the morphology and biology of the stone moroco Pseudorasbora parva (cypriniformes, cyprinidae) in the waters of Crimea

The stone moroco Pseudorasbora parva is recorded in the inland artificial and natural water bodies of Crimea. Data from morphometric, size-age, and biological analyses are given. Significant differences in meristic and plastic characters are found between the stone moroco populations from the Crimea, river basins of Ukraine and Far East of Russia. Based on the results, a conclusion is drawn about the naturalization of stone moroco with the formation of self-reproducing populations in the waters of the peninsula. Additional information is given on facultative parasitism of the stone moroco with respect to the larger fishes. The opinion of the negative influence of this invader on the ichthyocenes of the recipient water bodies is confirmed.     

A functional model for maximum growth of immature stone loach, Barbatula barbatula, from three populations in north-west England

1. The chief objective was to develop a functional model for growth of stone loach, Barbatula barbatula, using immature fish from three populations. The growth model had been developed previously for brown trout, Salmo trutta, but new estimates of the five parameters for the stone loach had to be obtained from laboratory experiments. 2. Fish from four size groups (initial arithmetic mean live weights 0.053 g, 0.231 g, 0.840 g, 1.612 g, with five fish per group) from Great Oaks Wood Beck were acclimatized to constant temperatures of either 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 °C. Each fish was kept in a separate tank and fed to satiation on freshwater shrimps. Weights and lengths of each fish were recorded at the start and finish of a growth period of 35 days. For each of the other populations (Black and Ford Wood Becks), there were only three temperatures (5, 10, 20 °C) with ten fish per temperature. 3. The growth model was an excellent fit (P < 0.001, R² > 0.99) for the 120 fish from Great Oaks Wood Beck. Growth rates were negative at 3 °C, close to zero at 5 and 25 °C, and positive at 10, 15 and 20 °C, with an optimum value of 19 °C. When growth rates were positive, they decreased markedly with increasing fish weight for small fish but decreased more slowly for larger fish. At the start of the experiments, weight–length relationships were similar for fish from all three populations and were well described by a power function. There was excellent agreement between growth rates estimated from the fitted growth model for fish from Great Oaks Wood Beck and values obtained for fish from Black and Ford Wood Becks. Data from all three populations were therefore pooled (n = 180) to obtain new estimates of the five parameters in the model. 4. Comparisons between parameter estimates for trout and stone loach showed that the latter grew better in warmer waters (e.g. optimum value for growth was 19.0 °C for stone loach and 13.1 °C for trout, with ranges for growth of 5.0–25.0 °C and 3.6–19.5 °C, respectively).     

Balitora eddsi,a new species of hillstream loach (Ostariophysi: Balitoridae) from Nepal

A new species of hillstream loach Balitora eddsi is described from the Karnali River drainage in south‐western Nepal. The new species is distinguished from all its congeners by possessing the following combination of characters: six to seven unbranched pectoral‐fin rays, pelvic‐fin length 12–14% standard length (L_S), dorsal surface without circular or irregular shaped dark blotches, snout pointed, median lobe between anterior rostral barbels pointed posteriorly, dorsal‐fin origin posterior to pelvic‐fin origin, lateral line scales 66–67, caudal peduncle length 22–23·2% L_S, caudal peduncle depth 4·1–4·2 times its length.     

Adaptive significance of sex change in the stone loach (Nemachilus angorae)

Restocking fish species may be one way to overcome problems of overfishing or dwindling natural populations. To date, most restocking programs have failed. We believe that these failures are, in part, due to the sparse, uniform rearing environment that fails to teach the fish about heterogeneity. We report experiments in which the early rearing environment of juvenile cod were manipulated to generate experience of environmental variability. We manipulated two key variables; food and spatial cues. We found that manipulations to either or both of these cues had effects on a number of behaviours and produced fish that varied in terms of boldness, stress recovery and the speed with which they were able to transfer from a diet of pellet food to natural prey.     

On the insect fauna of the Kichiga River basin, northeastern Kamchatka

189 species of insects from 55 families and 9 orders were found in the Kichiga River basin, northeastern Kamchatka Peninsula in 1987–1994: 7 species of Plecoptera, 7 of Odonata, 1 of Orthoptera, 4 of Homoptera, 6 of Heteroptera, 54 of Coleoptera, 73 of Lepidoptera, 15 of Hymenoptera, and 22 species of Diptera. Most of the insect species present in the Kichiga basin have wide ranges: 55 species and subspecies are Holarctic, 52 species have a broad Palaearctic distribution, 10 are Eastern Palaearctic, 8 are Amphi-Pacific, 8 are circumboreal or circumpolar, 4 are Far Eastern or Pacific; 5 species are endemic or subendemic to Kamchatka or some part of the peninsula.