Species composition and invasion risks of alien ornamental freshwater fishes from pet stores in Klang Valley, Malaysia

Mohammad Noor Azmai Amal,Ahmad Ismail,Noor Azrizal Abdul Wahid,Syaizwan Zahmir Zulkifli,Abdulwakil Olawale Saba,Muhammad Rasul Abdullah Halim

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-74168-9

Mohammad Noor Azmai Amal, Ahmad Ismail + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74168-9

Copy DOI

Abstract

The ornamental fish trade has been considered as one of the most important routes of invasive alien fish introduction into native freshwater ecosystems. Therefore, the species composition and invasion risks of fish species from 60 freshwater fish pet stores in Klang Valley, Malaysia were studied. A checklist of taxa belonging to 18 orders, 53 families, and 251 species of alien fishes was documented. Fish Invasiveness Screening Test (FIST) showed that seven (30.43%), eight (34.78%) and eight (34.78%) species were considered to be high, medium and low invasion risks, respectively. After the calibration of the Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK) v2 using the Receiver Operating Characteristics, a threshold value of 17 for distinguishing between invasive and non-invasive fishes was identified. As a result, nine species (39.13%) were of high invasion risk. In this study, we found that non-native fishes dominated (85.66%) the freshwater ornamental trade in Klang Valley, while FISK is a more robust tool in assessing the risk of invasion, and for the most part, its outcome was commensurate with FIST. This study, for the first time, revealed the number of high-risk ornamental fish species that give an awareness of possible future invasion if unmonitored in Klang Valley, Malaysia.

Highlights

The ornamental fish trade has been considered as one of the most important routes of invasive alien fish introduction into native freshwater ecosystems
There is no single study on the invasion risk of alien ornamental freshwater fishes in Malaysia using any of these tools
A total of 60 ornamental fish stores located within the five districts that cut across Klang Valley area were successfully surveyed (Fig. 1)

Summary

Introduction

The ornamental fish trade has been considered as one of the most important routes of invasive alien fish introduction into native freshwater ecosystems. The species composition and invasion risks of fish species from 60 freshwater fish pet stores in Klang Valley, Malaysia were studied. We found that non-native fishes dominated (85.66%) the freshwater ornamental trade in Klang Valley, while FISK is a more robust tool in assessing the risk of invasion, and for the most part, its outcome was commensurate with FIST. Hobbyists may get tired of certain fishes or get uncomfortable with their excessive breeding h abits[4] This route of introduction is probably the least regulated in many countries[5]. Since prevention has been identified as the backbone of alien invasive species management, it is necessary to identify and understand the existing or potential risks of various routes of aquatic species invasion[18]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion