Exotic and invasive fishes in Mexico

Abstract

This paper presents a list of the exotic fish species introduced in Mexican aquatic systems. This list is the result of the systematized information contained in several databases of ichthyological collections around the world and different publications. A total of 104 species were found, distributed in 19 families and 51 genera. The most species-rich were Cyprinidae with 22 species, Poeciliidae (19 species), Cichlidae (15 species) and Centrarchidae (13 species). A map and an electronic database were created based on the knowledge of the species, showing the known introductions of exotic fishes in the country. The information was obtained from a database stored in the Colección Nacional de Peces IBUNAM, which can be accessed online. This study has a high importance for the knowledge of the exotic fish fauna of Mexico and its current status.

Distribution of non‐native suckermouth armoured catfish Pterygoplichthys ambrosettii in the upper Paraná River basin, Brazil

“…Moreover, species within the genus Pterygoplichthys Gill 1858 are native to South America and globally appreciated in the Brazilian aquarium trade. The release of fish by aquarium hobbyists, however, has been responsible for the introduction of P. ambrosettii , Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus (Weber 1991), Pterygoplichthys multiradiatus (Hancock 1828) and Pterygoplichthys pardalis (Castelneu 1855) in the U.S.A. (Nico & Martin, ; Hoover et al, ; Nico et al, , ), Mexico (Espinosa Perez & Ramírez, ), South Africa (Jones et al, ), Philippines (Chavez et al, ), China (He, ) and India (Sinha et al, ). The common use of P. ambrosettii in the Brazilian aquarium trade and its ability to ascend fish ladders have probably contributed its rapid geographic spread and establishment in the upper Paraná River basin (Casimiro et al, ).…”

A new record of the exotic Guapote jaguar, Parachromis managuensis (Günther, 1867) (Cichliformes, Cichlidae) in a tropical coastal lagoon of the Mexican Pacific slope

“…It is highly probable that the specimens of P. managuensis were present due to an introduction of tilapia seeds, so this would correspond to an accidental release. Hitherto, there has only been one record of P. managuensis on any water bodies on the Mexican Pacific slope (Contreras-Balderas 1999;Espinosa-Pérez and Ramírez 2015;Velázquez-Veláquez et al 2016). In this contribution, its presence was identified for the second time on a coastal lagoon of the Pacific, with a wide range of dispersion on the northern region of the neotropics.…”

The role of introduced species in the decline of a highly endemic fish fauna in Central Mexico

“…Despite being numerous, introductions of freshwater fish in Mexico have been and continue to be under-documented (cf. Álvarez Romero, Medellín, Oliveras de Ita, Gómez de Silva, & Sánchez, 2008;Espinosa-Pérez & Ramírez, 2015), and the phenomenon has received only moderate attention, with studies generally considering relatively restricted taxa and regions. The expansion of non-native species was first noted by Contreras-Balderas and Escalante (1984), and their dominance over a decade later was reported by Lyons, Navarro-Pérez, Cochran, Santana, and Guzmán-Arroyo (1995) and Lyons et al (2000).…”

“…The number of reported introduced freshwater fish species in Mexico has risen exponentially since the beginning of the 20th century (with data from Contreras‐Balderas et al, ; Espinosa‐Pérez & Ramírez, ; Espinosa Pérez et al, )…”