Event Abstract Back to Event New Red List assessments proposed for the recently described freshwater fish species in Greece Anthi Oikonomou1*, Matthew Ford2, 3, Roberta Barbieri1, Eleni Kalogianni1, Jörg Freyhof2, Nefeli Stasinou1 and Maria T. Stoumboudi1 1 Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters, Hellenic Center for Marine Research, Greece 2 Museum für Naturkunde, Germany 3 Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Germany In Europe, freshwater fish is the most threatened vertebrate group, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. However, the last European Red List for freshwater fish was published in 2011, with the majority of assessments completed prior to 2010. Efforts to comprehensively reassess the conservation status of all European freshwater fish are underway, but a number of new species have been described in the last decade and remain in need of a first Red List assessment, to establish their respective extinction risks and set conservation priorities. Greece is a hotspot for European freshwater fish biodiversity, as its ichthyofauna includes 163 species of which 123 are native and 60 endemic. New species continue to be discovered and recently-described taxa include Caspiomyzon graecus (Renaud & Economidis 2010), Valencia robertae Freyhof, Kärst & Geiger 2014 and Alburnoides economoui Barbieri, Vukić, Šanda & Zogaris 2017, while Alburnoides strymonicus Chichkoff 1940 has been revalidated and the former subspecies Alburnoides thessalicus (Stephanidis 1950) elevated to the rank of species. In this study the distribution of these new species was reviewed and their conservation status determined by applying IUCN Red List criteria, leading to the synthesis of a proposal for new Red List assessments, including recommendations for future research and management priorities. Alburnoides strymonicus and Alburnoides thessalicus, due to their abundance and wide geographic range are classified as Least Concern. Alburnoides economoui being restricted to a single river drainage in the Western Aegean freshwater ecoregion (Sperchios river), with a distribution covering an area smaller than 225 km2 qualifies as an Endangered species under criterion B; it is threatened by water abstraction and pollution and habitat fragmentation (Barbieri et al., 2017). Caspiomyzon graecus and Valencia robertae are placed under the Critically Endangered category. Caspiomyzon graecus is only known from a single location (Louros River) (Northwestern Greece), with a total estimated extent of occurrence (EOO) <100 km² and area of occupancy (AOO) <10 km²; the species is threatened mainly by habitat loss and degradation resulting from river channelization, water abstraction and pollution (Renaud &Economidis, 2010, Barbieri et al., 2015). Valencia robertae is known from a few localities (each of a few square meters surface area), with an extent of occurrence smaller than 100 km² and an area of occupancy less than 10 km². Major threats are habitat loss or degradation, excessive groundwater extraction (for agriculture), and water pollution, as well as competition with Gambusia holbrooki, which has invaded almost all of its habitats (Kalogianni et al., 2010, Freyjof et al., 2014, Vogiatzi et al., 2014). Improved taxonomic knowledge can have a positive impact on the conservation of threatened, endemic freshwater fish species. In brief, conservation priorities for A. economoui should focus on habitat restoration and pollution prevention, for C. graecus should include habitat restoration through an area-based Management Plan, research and monitoring for the species and for V. robertae should comprise the protection of lowland spring-fed habitats that currently constitute important refugia for this species, as well as actions to prevent the invasion of the alien G. holbrooki to the few Valencia habitats that remain mosquitofish-free. References Barbieri, R., J. Vukic, R. Sanda, Y. Kapakos and S. Zogaris, 2017. Alburnoides economoui, a new species of spirlin from Central Greece and redescription of Alburnoides thessalicus (Actinopterygii: Cyprinidae). Biologia 71(9):1075- 1088. Barbieri R., S. Zogaris, E. Kalogianni, M. Th. Stoumboudi, Y. Chatzinikolaou, S. Giakoumi, Y. Kapakos, D. Kommatas, N. Koutsikos, V. Tachos, L. Vardakas & Economou A.N., 2015. Freshwater Fishes and Lampreys of Greece: An annotated checklist. Monographs on Marine Sciences No. 8. Hellenic Centre for Marine Research: Athens, Greece. p. 130. Freyhof, J., H. Kärst and Geiger M. 2014. Valencia robertae, a new killifish from southern Greece (Cyprinodontiformes: Valenciidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters 24(4): 289-298. Kalogianni E., Giakoumi S., Zogaris S., Chatzinikolaou Y.,Zimmerman B., Economou A.N. 2010. Current distribution and ecology of the critically endangered Valencia letourneuxi in Greece. Biologia, 65: 128- 139. Renaud, C. B. & Economidis, P. S. 2010. Eudontomyzon graecus, a new nonparasitic lamprey species from Greece (Petromyzontiformes: Petromyzontidae). Zootaxa 2477: 37- 48. Vogiatzi, E., Kalogianni, E., Zimmerman, B., Giakoumi, S., Barbieri, R., Paschou, P., Magoulas, A., Tsaparis, D., Poulakakis, N., Tsigenopoulos, C.S. 2014. Reduced genetic variation and strong genetic population structure in the freshwater killifish Valencia letourneuxi (Valenciidae) based on nuclear and mitochondrial markers. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 111 (2): 334- 349. Keywords: freshwater fish, Red List assessment, Conservation status, Conservation priorities, Greece Conference: XVI European Congress of Ichthyology, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2 Sep - 6 Sep, 2019. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: THREATS AND CONSERVATION Citation: Oikonomou A, Ford M, Barbieri R, Kalogianni E, Freyhof J, Stasinou N and Stoumboudi MT (2019). New Red List assessments proposed for the recently described freshwater fish species in Greece. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XVI European Congress of Ichthyology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.07.00150 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 07 Jun 2019; Published Online: 14 Aug 2019. * Correspondence: Dr. Anthi Oikonomou, Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters, Hellenic Center for Marine Research, Heraklion, Greece, anthi.oikon@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Anthi Oikonomou Matthew Ford Roberta Barbieri Eleni Kalogianni Jörg Freyhof Nefeli Stasinou Maria T Stoumboudi Google Anthi Oikonomou Matthew Ford Roberta Barbieri Eleni Kalogianni Jörg Freyhof Nefeli Stasinou Maria T Stoumboudi Google Scholar Anthi Oikonomou Matthew Ford Roberta Barbieri Eleni Kalogianni Jörg Freyhof Nefeli Stasinou Maria T Stoumboudi PubMed Anthi Oikonomou Matthew Ford Roberta Barbieri Eleni Kalogianni Jörg Freyhof Nefeli Stasinou Maria T Stoumboudi Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.