Invasive vermiculated sailfin catfish (Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus) has an impact on highly valued native fish species

Abstract

Invasive vermiculated sailfin catfish (Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus) has an impact on highly valued native fish species.

Understanding feeding competition under laboratory conditions: Rohu (Labeo rohita)versus Amazon sailfin catfish (Pterygoplichthysspp.)

“…Ltd., Tamil Nadu, India) added separately (N=9 trials for each food item) to the tanks. Since catfish is known to be an algal eater (Gestring et al, 2010; Parvez et al, 2023), most of the selected food items were algae-based. Durations of different behaviors including feeding were calculated for each food item during the playback of the recorded video of the trials.…”

“…(Jumawan et al, 2011). Amazon sailfin catfish is a voracious algae eater and have been shown to have a huge dietary overlap with several native species in the introduced habitats (Gestring et al, 2010;Parvez et al, 2023). One such native species belonging to the Indian freshwaters is rohu Labeo rohita (Suresh et al, 2019).…”

“…India is the second largest producer (9.59 million tonnes) of rohu (Seshagiri et al, 2022) contributing to 1.07% of national GDP along with an export income generation of 31,000 million, as reported in 2018-19 (Ngasotter et al, 2020). Using mesocosm-based approach, several studies have shown that Amazon sailfin catfish negatively impacted the growth of fingerling rohu [fingerling defined in terms of total length (TL, from snout to tip of caudal fin) of <15 cm, Munilkumar and Nandeesha, 2007], when both the species were reared together under similar experimental conditions (Parvez et al, 2023; Mallick et al, 2023). However, the catfish had no significant impact on different abiotic (water quality and soil C/N profiles) and biotic (zoo- and phytoplankton abundance) measures of the given experimental condition (Seshagiri et al, 2021; Parvez et al, 2023; Mallick et al, 2023).…”

“…Using mesocosm-based approach, several studies have shown that Amazon sailfin catfish negatively impacted the growth of fingerling rohu [fingerling defined in terms of total length (TL, from snout to tip of caudal fin) of <15 cm, Munilkumar and Nandeesha, 2007], when both the species were reared together under similar experimental conditions (Parvez et al, 2023; Mallick et al, 2023). However, the catfish had no significant impact on different abiotic (water quality and soil C/N profiles) and biotic (zoo- and phytoplankton abundance) measures of the given experimental condition (Seshagiri et al, 2021; Parvez et al, 2023; Mallick et al, 2023). Based on the findings, the studies have speculated that the observed negative impact on rohu fingerlings can be mediated via feeding competitions with the catfish (Mallick et al, 2023), and thus, warrants further investigations.…”

“…If so, does it depend on the body size (TL, as a proxy for age, Raphael et al, 2016) of both species? Feeding duration of each species was used as a proxy to understand competition. The purpose of the study is to understand feeding competitions between Amazon sailfin catfish and rohu to help understand any potential impact of the invasive catfish (Parvez et al, 2023; Wakida-Kusunoki et al, 2007) on the keystone and commerciallly valuable species, rohu (Dwivedi and Nautiyal, 2012; Dwivedi et al, 2020; Rabbane et al, 2022; Mallick et al, 2023). Such understanding may help in assessing the threats associated with several ecosystems across the globe, where the native rohu now co-occur with the invasive catfish (Wakida-Kusunoki et al, 2007; Saba et al, 2020; Seshagiri et al, 2021; Parvez et al, 2023).…”