Recent State and Mechanisms of Invasions of Exotic Decapods in Ukrainian Rivers

Abstract

Lower reaches of largest Ukrainian rivers are zones of migrations for exotic euryhaline decapods. During 2000s new records of invasions of three euryhaline exotic decapods, Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Gould, 1841), Eriocheir sinensis Milne-Edwards, 1853 and Macrobrachium nipponense (De Haan, 1849), were made in the channels of Ukrainian rivers. Chinese mitten crab, E. sinensis, spread in the Danube Delta and reservoirs of the Dnieper River; Rh. harrisii - in the channels of the Danube, Dnieper, Southern Bug and small river Gruzskij Yelanchik in the Azov Sea Basin; M. nipponense that was introduced in the Kuchurgan Liman (cooler reservoir of the Moldavian Hydro-power Station) - in the Dniester Delta. The migration zone of the established population can cover significant part of river watershed; it is necessary to take this fact into account at an estimation of biological invasion risk. Main problem in the investigation of exotic decapods in Ukrainian waters is absence of specialized methods used in the standard ecological monitoring. Among euryhaline exotic decapods, only Rh. harrisii is sometimes sampled with the equipment used in the monitoring of macrozoobenthos. A few records of these species at the large extent of their supposed ways of migration are the result of gaps in the study of their distribution in Ukrainian inland waters. Realistic attitude toward this fact is very important for the estimation of invasions in the inland waters of this region.

Continental-wide distribution of crayfish species in Europe: update and maps

“…Holdich et al, 2006). This might result in invasion of Ukraine as hypothesized by Son et al (2013), particularly via the Western Bug River. Indeed, an upper part of this basin (Lesnaya Levaya River) was found already invaded by spiny-cheek crayfish in Belarus (Aklehnovich and Razlutskij, 2013).…”

Occurrence of two exotic decapods,Macrobrachium nipponense(de Haan, 1849) andProcambarus virginalisLyko, 2017, in Ukrainian waters

“…Over the past decades, expansions of five non-native decapods, Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Gould, 1841), Eriocheir sinensis Milne-Edwards, 1853, Macrobrachium nipponense (De Haan, 1849), Orconectes limosus (Rafinesque, 1815) and Procambarus virginalis Lyko, 2017 have been recorded in Ukraine's inland waters (Son et al, 2013;Novitsky and Son, 2016;Kudryashov, 2020). While invasive crabs R. harrisii and E. sinensis are common along the Azov-Black Sea coast and penetrate river basins through estuarine systems, O. limosus, M. nipponense and P. virginalis are distributed exclusively in inland waters (Son et al, 2013;Novitsky and Son, 2016;Kudryashov, 2020).…”

“…Over the past decades, expansions of five non-native decapods, Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Gould, 1841), Eriocheir sinensis Milne-Edwards, 1853, Macrobrachium nipponense (De Haan, 1849), Orconectes limosus (Rafinesque, 1815) and Procambarus virginalis Lyko, 2017 have been recorded in Ukraine's inland waters (Son et al, 2013;Novitsky and Son, 2016;Kudryashov, 2020). While invasive crabs R. harrisii and E. sinensis are common along the Azov-Black Sea coast and penetrate river basins through estuarine systems, O. limosus, M. nipponense and P. virginalis are distributed exclusively in inland waters (Son et al, 2013;Novitsky and Son, 2016;Kudryashov, 2020). This is rather a large number of non-native species, considering that the native Ukrainian freshwater fauna includes only four decapod species, Astacus leptodactylus (Eschscholtz, 1823), Astacus astacus (Linnaeus, 1758), Astacus pachypus (Rathke, 1837) and Potamon ibericum (Bieberstein, 1808), of which the last three are not widespread and are considered to be vulnerable (Akimov, 2009;Policar et al, 2018).…”

“…Macrobrachium nipponense is a widespread Indo-Pacific species that occurs in estuarine and fresh waters (Yu and Miyake, 1972;Cai and Ng, 2002). It has been introduced to natural habitats in Bangladesh, Singapore, the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Iran, Moldova and Ukraine (Alekhnovich and Kulesh, 2001;Cai and Shokita, 2006;De Grave and Ghane, 2006;Salman et al, 2006;Son et al, 2013). In addition, the species is cultivated in cooling reservoirs of thermal power stations in Russia, Belarus and Moldova (Alekhnovich and Kulesh, 2001).…”

The First Find of Shrimp of the Genus Macrobrachium Bate, 1868 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Palaemonidae) in the Don River

“…Ранее для Азово-Черноморского бассейна был отмечен другой вид рода -Macrobrachium nipponense (De Haan, 1849), акклиматизирован-ный в Кучурганском лимане [18] и отмеченный также в Куйбышевском водохранилище [19]. Macrobrachium rosenbergii ранее был указан для фауны России [20] …”