Freshwater crayfish in Bosnia and Herzegovina: the first report on their distribution

Abstract

The aim of this research paper is to present available data on the distribution of freshwater crayfish in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including data from the literature and those of our own investigations. According to historical data, the existence of four native European species were reported within the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Astacus astacus (Linnaeus, 1758), A. leptodactylus (Eschscholtz, 1823), Austropotamobius torrentium (Schrank, 1803) and A. pallipes (Lereboullet, 1858). Our recent research has confirmed the presence of these four species. A. torrentium has been found in the tributaries of the rivers Bosna and Una, in ecologically similar habitats, that is, in relatively clean waters with a small amount of organic material (water quality category I or II). A. pallipes is predominantly present in the Neretva River basin, partly in the Una River basin and in the Cetina River basin, forming both river and lake populations (in the Boracko Lake are present in particularly large numbers) – waters with oxygen concentrations greater than 9 mg·L-1 and BOD5 values less than 2 mg·L-1. A. astacus is present in a dense population in waters of the Drina River basin (as river and lake populations), but occurs also in the tributaries of the rivers Bosna (midstream) and Sava. So far, A. leptodactylus was found only at the two localities: Sava River (Brčko area) and Miljacka River (upstream of Sarajevo), in the waters quality of category II (beta-mesosaprobic). Allochthonous species have not been yet recorded in the freshwater habitats of Bosnia and Herzegovina.