Abstract
Non-native South American suckermouth armored catfishes brackish waters of the genus Pterygoplichthys are reported in the Chumpan River in the Southeastern Mexico. The Pterygoplichthys in the Chumpan likely dispersed from populations from the drainage of nearby coastal rivers where they were already established. These catfish tolerate estuarine conditions and probably dispersed from the Grijalva-Usumacinta basin through the brackish waters of Laguna de Terminos and then ultimately entered the Chumpan River system. One juvenile and seven adult Pterygoplichthys were collected in the Chumpan River system in December 2014 from a river lagoon some 15 km upstream from Laguna de Terminos. Non-native catfish were not detected in the nearby Candelaria River. Based on their ventral color patterns, the captured adult catfish were identified as a mix of Pterygoplichthys pardalis and hybrid Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus × pardalis. The detection of these invasive catfish in the Chumpan River highlights the urgent need to generate an awareness program to reduce any adverse effects of this invasive species in the basin, and raises concerns that they may disperse to other basins via an oligohaline passageway in Laguna de Terminos.
Highlights
IntroductionResearchers have documented the existence of as many as two different Pterygoplichthys species in the Grijalva and Usumacinta basin (Wakida-Kusunoki et al 2007; Wakida-Kusunoki and Amador-del Ángel 2008; Capps et al 2011; Sánchez et al 2012a, 2012b; Ayala-Pérez et al 2014; Barba-Macías and Cano-Salgado 2014; Barba-Macías et al 2014)
South American suckermouth armored catfishes of the genus Pterygoplichthys are firmly established in parts of southeastern Mexico
The river drains into the southern extreme of Laguna de Términos through the Balchacah-Chumpan fluvio-lagoon (Figure 1), which has an area of 13.1 km2 and a depth of 1.5 m (Ayala-Pérez 2010)
Summary
Researchers have documented the existence of as many as two different Pterygoplichthys species in the Grijalva and Usumacinta basin (Wakida-Kusunoki et al 2007; Wakida-Kusunoki and Amador-del Ángel 2008; Capps et al 2011; Sánchez et al 2012a, 2012b; Ayala-Pérez et al 2014; Barba-Macías and Cano-Salgado 2014; Barba-Macías et al 2014). There are confirmed reports of these nonnative catfishes in the Palizada River and EstePalizada fluvio-lagoon (Wakida-Kusunoki and Amador-del Ángel 2008; Ayala-Pérez et al 2014), as well as in the Pom-Atasta fluvio-lagoon (Ayala-Pérez et al 2014). The spread of non-native fauna has been almost inevitable worldwide (Cucherousset and Olden 2011), and the successful dispersal of Pterygoplichthys through Laguna de Términos is very probable
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
