Colonization of the Border Meuse area (The Netherlands and Belgium) by the non-native western tubenose goby Proterorhinus semilunaris (Heckel, 1837) (Teleostei, Gobiidae)

Roger Cammaerts,Hugo Verreycken,Thierry Demol,Sébastien Richez,Frédéric Chérot,Frank Spikmans,Nils Van Kessel

doi:10.3391/ai.2012.7.2.011

Abstract

The western tubenose goby, Proterorhinus semilunaris, of Ponto-Caspian origin, already recorded in 2002 from the lowest course of the Dutch River Meuse, was caught upstream for the first time in 2008 in the Border Meuse, the river-stretch forming the border between Belgium and the Netherlands. In 2009 it reached the upstream extremity of the Border Meuse in Wallonia and in 2010 it was recorded in Flanders, in a canal connected to the Border Meuse. Discussion is provided about its migration pathway. Further upstream expansion of the western tubenose goby may be expected in less man-modified and lightly navigated sections of the River Meuse, e.g. those lined with macrophyte-rich habitats. Behavioural competition with the native bullhead Cottus perifretum is likely and might lead to a decline in the bullhead population. © 2012 The Author(s).

Highlights

The western tubenose goby, Proterorhinus semilunaris (Heckel, 1837) is a freshwater fish native to the Black Sea (Dnieper, South Bug, Dniester and Danube rivers) and Aegean (River Maritza, its type-locality, and River Struma) basins
The western tubenose goby, Proterorhinus semilunaris, of Ponto-Caspian origin, already recorded in 2002 from the lowest course of the Dutch River Meuse, was caught upstream for the first time in 2008 in the Border Meuse, the river-stretch forming the border between Belgium and the Netherlands
In 2009 it reached the upstream extremity of the Border Meuse in Wallonia and in 2010 it was recorded in Flanders, in a canal connected to the Border Meuse

Summary

Introduction

The western tubenose goby, Proterorhinus semilunaris (Heckel, 1837) is a freshwater fish native to the Black Sea (Dnieper, South Bug, Dniester and Danube rivers) and Aegean (River Maritza, its type-locality, and River Struma) basins. This small benthic species was previously known under the name P. marmoratus (Pallas, 1814), a taxon which has been restricted to a marine relative that inhabits the Black Sea as evidenced by nuclear and mitochondrial DNA evidence and morphological divergence (Stepien and Tumeo 2006; Neilson and Stepien 2009a, b). It reached the German reach of the Danube River in 1985 (first capture at Passau) and simultaneously expanded along Hungarian second order rivers (Harka and Bíró 2007)

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