EASIN - European Alien Species Information Network

Stelios Katsanevakis
4/30/2014 - 3:39 PM

Thread Opening Text:
In the catalogue, Atherina boyeri is listed as alien, but partly native in the European Seas. As far as I know, it is more or less native everywhere, so the question is: why it is included? Which is exactly the alien range of this species (and related references)?

Argyro ZENETOS
5/6/2014 - 1:53 PM

reported as alien in the Netherlands: Schrieken, B. & Swennen, B., 1969. Atherina nochon Cuv. A second species of sand-melt (Pisces, Atherinidae) from Dutch coastal water. Neth. J. Sea. Res. 4: 373-375.
Introduction Vector— Transport of eggs by ships? (Van der Velde & Polderman, 1972, 1976).
Oosterschelde: Gittenberg, 2009

also in UK -see: Roy et al. (2012) Non-Native Species in Great Britain: establishment, detection and reporting to inform effective decision making. https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/nonnativespecies/

Fabio CROCETTA
5/7/2014 - 10:52 AM

Yes, but may be this is one of the common non-sence of the online databases. In fact, in UK, when going deep into the link then they say...

http://www.nonnativespecies.org/factsheet/factsheet.cfm?speciesId=401

"probably native". 


Was the database developed by a snake expert? :-)


I would really say that without molecolar we cannot say anything about a possible alien range of this species....

Fabio CROCETTA
5/12/2014 - 12:19 PM

Could you send me pdfs regarding its alien status in the Netherlands?

I also checked its status in Great Britain. If you go straight to the link, then:

http://www.nonnativespecies.org/factsheet/factsheet.cfm?speciesId=401

they declare it as "probably native" (first record as 1846!!). I would say that without molecular we can say nothing....

Eugenio GERVASINI
1/29/2015 - 12:56 PM

Is there any evidence that can allow closing the discussion on this issue?

Michel BARICHE
2/24/2016 - 9:07 AM

There is no clear evidence whether A. boyeri should be considered an alien or not along the European North-Eastern Atlantic coast and the North Sea. 
The species has been recorded since 1846 from Great Britain (according to FaCrox), which would imply it being indigenous. It was considered alien in both the Netherlands and GB (Schrieken & Swennen, 1969; Roy et al., 2012). Quignard & Pras (1986) and Kottelat & Freyhof (2007) mentioned isolated populations in southern England and the Netherlands without considering them as aliens. Kottelat & Freyhof (2007) had distinguished two species A. boyeri (freshwater) and A. mochon (marine) by a different number of gill rackers. The presence of two species may explain the fact that A. boyeri was considered very euryhaline (0-77‰) by Quignard & Pras (1986). Francisco et al. (2008) were not able to collect A. boyeri (but another species A. presbyter) from the concerned areas and showed that A. boyeri is a complex clade with clear geographic subdivisions. They considered that this was because of the fragmentation of its habitats together with low dispersal ability. Francisco et al. (2008) also labeled A. boyeri as a brackish/freshwater clade and reported 2 other clades (punctuated fish and not punctuated) that were marine. 

I would suggest to list the species as cryptogenic (sensu Carlton, 1996) in the region, until molecular evidences solve this question.

References:
•Carlton JT (1996). "Biological invasions and cryptogenic species". Ecology (Ecological Society of America) 77 (6): 1653–1655.
•Francisco et al. (2008). Phylogenetic relationships of the North-eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean forms of Atherina (Pisces, Atherinidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 48, 782–788.
•Kottelat, M. and J. Freyhof, 2007. Handbook of European freshwater fishes. Publications Kottelat, Cornol and Freyhof, Berlin. 646 pp.
•Quignard, J.-P. and A. Pras, 1986. Atherinidae. p. 1207-1210. In P.J.P. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.) Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 3.
•Roy et al. (2012) Non-Native Species in Great Britain: establishment, detection and reporting to inform effective decision making. https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/nonnativespecies/
•Schrieken, B. & Swennen, B., 1969. Atherina nochon Cuv. A second species of sand-melt (Pisces, Atherinidae) from Dutch coastal water. Neth. J. Sea. Res. 4: 373-375.

Stelios Katsanevakis
6/1/2016 - 4:12 PM

Thread Closing Text:
list the species as cryptogenic (sensu Carlton, 1996) in the region, until molecular evidences solve this question.

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