Comparison of Behavior and Space Use of the European Bullhead Cottus gobio and the Round Goby Neogobius melanostomus in a Simulated Natural Habitat

Abstract

The round goby is an invasive fish in Europe and North America that threatens native species by predation and competition. Its habitat preferences are similar to those of the European bullhead, which it displaces from shelters and out-competes for available resources. We assessed the microhabitat preferences, shelter use, and activity of the round goby and European bullhead in single-species experiments in habitat simulator systems to investigate their behavior in a novel environment. Fish were video-recorded for 28 h in the presence of shelter and feed with water velocity ranging from 0.00 to 0.96 m s−1. The two species showed similar behavior under given conditions. A primary difference was in stress-induced behavior in the initial phases of observation. The round goby spent more time in movement when outside the shelter and a longer time in the escape zone in the exploration period during light. Our results confirmed a significant preference of round goby for low velocity areas and a preference for higher velocities in the European bullhead. Both species were able to cope with velocities > 0.7 m s−1. Therefore, the reported invasion success of round goby is probably not driven by space use or activity patterns, but rather by higher adaptability.

Round goby [Neogobius melanostomus (Pallas, 1814)], gudgeon (Gobio gobio L.) and bullhead (Cottus gobio L.) show distinct swimming patterns in a vertical slot fish pass

“…A specialized strategy for overcoming flow resistance via station holding at the bottom at higher flow using pectoral fins has Frontiers in Environmental Science frontiersin.org been described for the round goby (Hoover et al, 2003;Carlson and Lauder, 2011;Tierney et al, 2011). A similar flow resistance strategy has been reported for bullhead (Tudorache et al, 2008;Egger et al, 2020), which inhabits a similar ecological niche as the round goby (Roje et al, 2021). Bullhead live in smaller tributaries with strong water velocities, which are potential invasion areas for the round goby.…”

“…Compared to round goby, bullhead was reported to orient to higher velocity areas in laboratory experiments (Roje et al, 2021), while bullhead was listed as "weak" swimmer together with gudgeon (Tudorache et al, 2008). Gudgeon also occurs in such tributaries but has a different, subcarangiform swimming style and is described a semi-pelagic swimmer (Egger et al, 2020;Wiegleb et al, 2022a).…”

Feeding in predator naïve crayfish is influenced by cues from a fish predator

“…In addition to the aforementioned impacts, detailed accounts of additional impacts are reported in the literature. For instance, a comparative study examining the interactions between native European bullhead and non-native round goby describes the impacts in great detail 33 . Similarly, another study has explored the predation of round goby as a predator on marbled crayfish of varying size classes 57 .…”

“…The round goby is primarily an opportunistic benthic feeder with a broad diet spectrum of invertebrates, including crayfish 28 . Its ecological impact seriously affects invaded water bodies and their native biota 32 , including their native ecological counterparts such as the protected European bullhead Cottus gobio 33 , 34 . Populations of round goby in the Czech Republic are well established in the Morava 35 and the Elbe 36 river basins, where they live in syntopy with spiny-cheek crayfish (personal field observations).…”

They do not fear the unknown: Ancylus fluviatilis (Mollusca, Planorbidae) shows no predator avoidance behavior towards a novel invasive predator

“…Since 2018, round gobies have been found in lower stretches of several Saxonian River Elbe tributaries with increasing abundances as well as more invaded tributaries every year (unpublished data). In these rivers, the invading N. melanostomus occupy a similar ecological niche to the native European bullhead (Cottus gobio Linnaeus, 1758) (Roje et al, 2021) with similar substrate preferences (van Kessel et al, 2016) and food sources (Błońska et al, 2016). Although co-occurrence of N. melanostomus and C. gobio can be observed (Roche et al, 2015;van Kessel et al, 2016;Janáč et al, 2018), several laboratory and field studies indicate negative effects of N. melanostomus on C. gobio populations (Dubs & Corkum, 1996;Janssen & Jude, 2001;Corkum et al, 2004;Jurajda et al, 2005;van Kessel et al, 2016).…”