Ecological particularities of the critically endangered killifish Valencia letourneuxi and its spring-fed habitats: a long-lost endemic species of south Albania

Abstract

The southernmost part of Albania, the Butrinti Lake area is characterised by a highly diverse freshwater fish community with a high degree of regional endemism. This study focuses on the Corfu killifish (or toothcarp) Valencia letourneuxi (Sauvage, 1880) that is endemic to the western part of the Ionian Ecoregion, and reported in Albania in the past from a single location, Lake Butrinti. Recently, in June 2019, the species has been rediscovered at a very low population density (only 11 individuals collected) in a spring-fed stream in the vicinity of Lake Butrinti. Other fish present together with V. letourneuxi were the native Telestes pleurobipunctatus, Barbus peloponnesius, Anguilla anguilla and Pelasgus thesproticus and the translocated Alburnus sp. Our findings provide useful insights into the ecology and conservation of a Critically Endangered, range-restricted species and its habitats. The Corfu killifish presence correlated negatively with water depth and positively with aquatic vegetation coverage. The conservation implications of our findings both for the target species and the co-occurring fish fauna in its spring-fed habitats are discussed.

Recent Data on the Distribution of Freshwater Ichthyofauna in Albania

“…In terms of species richness, the highest number of species was found in the Drini basin (including lakes Ohrid and Skadar/Skadar) (Table 1), followed by the Vjosa basin, while the lowest number of species is found in the Danube basin, which is represented in Albania to a very low extent, even more so at high altitudes. From biogeographic point of view, most of the Albanian region formed specific districts (delimited by the Drini basin on the north and Vjosa in the south), referred to by various authors as the Albanian, south Adriatic or southeastern Adriatic (Economidis and Daoulas, 2003;Snoj et al, 2009;Geiger et al, 2014;Meulenbroek et al, 2018;Shumka et al, 2018a;Shumka et al, 2020b). A clustering method was used to test whether the fish communities were homogeneous: Jaccard similarity matrix with group average linkage (UPGMA tree) was used to cluster different basin samples according to their fish community and create a similarity tree (Figure 2).…”

Comparative Analysis of Marine Fish for the Content of Pollutants in the Eurasian Region

“…These areas produce pollutants from oil refining, wastewater, and toxic heavy metal dust emissions. At the same time, in the Palermo region (northwest of Sicily), various industrial and commercial activities, such as oil and electricity production, as well as engineering, shipbuilding, and manufacturing companies, are the main sources of air and water pollution 38) . In addition, agricultural and domestic effluents contribute significantly to pollution, making this region one of the most polluted on the Mediterranean coast.…”

Investigation of Production Wastes Upon Roasting Mechanically Activated Phosphorite and Utilisation of Fluorine Compounds

“…Therefore, understanding the mechanisms of the formation of fluoride compounds and developing effective methods and technologies for their utilization are becoming an integral part of industrial processes. Studying this subject will not only reduce pollution of water resources, soil, and atmosphere but also prevent potential adverse effects on ecosystems and human health [1][2] . Moreover, the results of the study will be useful for developing and implementing more environmentally friendly waste treatment methods in fertilizer production, complying with environmental legislation, and promoting sustainable development in the industry.…”