Potential impacts of gravel extraction on Spanish populations of river blennies Salaria fluviatilis (Pisces, Blenniidae)

Abstract

River blennies Salaria fluviatilis have a wide circum-Mediterranean distribution, but they are mostly confined to small, very localised populations. In the Iberian Peninsula, they are endangered due to a variety of causes, including gravel extraction. This study identified the breeding requirements of river blennies at a site where gravel extraction takes place and at three other sites in different drainage basins in Spain. Breeding males chose nest stones that were significantly larger than other stones available in the immediate vicinity. Although clutch area was significantly related to stone size in two of three populations, male size was not. Stone size appeared to be the main correlate of clutch size, and stone sizes were significantly smaller at sites where gravel had been extracted. The potential effects of stone and gravel removal on nesting density and egg productivity were simulated, and it was found that a 75% reduction in stone size, as observed in this study, could result in a 47% decrease in nesting density. Because of the relationship between clutch size and nest stone size, egg production would be reduced even further, to 25% of its initial level. Removal of stones and gravel from the river bed also causes structural alterations which may render the habitat unsuitable for breeding blennies despite the presence of apparently suitable nest stones. Our results may be applicable to the conservation of other substrate-spawning fish.