Morphometric and meristic characteristics of the Amur sleeper (Perccottus glenii) from the Danube River drainage channel

Abstract

In recent decades, the Amur sleeper (Perccottus glenii) is one of the most impressive east-to-west invaders of European inland waters, but there are insufficient data on its biology in the countries it has entered. Specimens of two sets of samples from November 2015 (n=25) and October 2016 (n=39) were caught in the Danube River channel near Veliko Gradiste (Serbia) by electrofishing. Thirty morphometric and eight meristic characteristics of the collected fish were measured with the aim of describing the general body shape in more detail using the ?point-to-point? method. This is the first attempt to obtain morphometric and meristic characteristics of Amur sleeper caught in Serbia. The results revealed a relatively low variability in the morphometric and meristic characters of the studied population. When compared to other studies, there was a great variability of the studied characteristics between geographically distant European populations that inhabit different water body types. Female fish had more robust bodies compared to males of the same length, while males had longer pectoral, anal and dorsal fins. Additionally, 2+ individuals had more robust heads and jaws, as well as longer anterior parts of the body compared to 1+ individuals of the same size

First record of highly invasive Chinese sleeperPerccottus gleniiDybowski, 1877 (Perciformes: Odontobutidae) in the Elbe River Basin, Czechia

“…The morphometric and meristic characteristics were consistent with the species delimitation according to Horvatić et al (2022). The specimen had a standard length of 67 mm, a total length of 79 mm, and a weight of 8.1 g. Eight meristic features on the left side of the body matched the species description: six rays in the first dorsal fin, 13 rays in the second dorsal fin, 13 rays in the pectoral fin, 4 rays in the ventral fin, 9 rays in the anal fin, 38 scales in the lateral line, 14 scales in the transverse row, 9 scales in the circumpenducular row (Horvatić et al, 2022;Nikolić et al, 2021).…”

“…(2022). The specimen had a standard length of 67 mm, a total length of 79 mm, and a weight of 8.1 g. Eight meristic features on the left side of the body matched the species description: six rays in the first dorsal fin, 13 rays in the second dorsal fin, 13 rays in the pectoral fin, 4 rays in the ventral fin, 9 rays in the anal fin, 38 scales in the lateral line, 14 scales in the transverse row, 9 scales in the circumpenducular row (Horvatić et al ., 2022; Nikolić et al ., 2021). To our knowledge, the Chinese sleeper has not yet been detected in the Czech Republic (Chobot & Němec, 2017; Froese & Pauly, 2000); however, its range includes almost all neighbouring countries, Germany, Poland, and Slovakia, except for Austria (Grabowska et al ., 2009; Koščo et al ., 2003; Reshetnikov & Schliewen, 2013) and thus its invasion was expected.…”