A regional fish inventory of inland waters in Northern Italy reveals the presence of fully exotic fish communities

Abstract

The aim of the study is to present a complete and updated fish inventory of inland waters of the Emilia-Romagna region, Northern Italy, and to highlight the presence of fully exotic fish communities. Overall, based on 208 sampling locations, the observed fish fauna consisted of 45 species, 22 native and 23 exotics. A significant element of the inventory is the identification of xenodiversity hotspots (spatially clustered sites, one lowland and one upland region), where a complete substitution of native species by exotic species was observed (in total seven sites in the lowland and two sites in the upland with no native species presence). These xenodiversity hotspots were found to host specific combinations of exotic species, which may be able to constitute balanced exotic communities. The hotspots of the lowland region are located in the northeast lowland part of the territory, hosting exotic species combinations mainly composed by wels catfish (Silurus glanis Linnaeus, 1758, a large predator), common carp (Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, 1758, a large benthivore), crucian carp (Carassius spp., a small-bodied generalist) and other less dominant exotic species. The hotspots in the upland region were located in the southwest part of the territory and were dominated by only one exotic species (rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum, 1792)). A difference between these xenodiversity hotspots is that in the lowland the introductions were mostly unintentional and are not continued, while in the upland the introduction of rainbow trout is intentional and currently carried out by local fishermen.