No native trout on Cyprus
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1
Department of Ecology, Division of Biology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Czechia
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2
Independent researcher, Czechia
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3
Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters, Hellenic Center for Marine Research, Greece
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4
Institute of Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Serbia
Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. There are two large mountain ranges, of which the Troodos massif reaches 1,952 m. Approximately 340 kilometres of streams on Cyprus are considered perennial or semi-perennial (about 13% of its river network). Cool running waters are found almost exclusively in the uplands of the Troodos and cover at least half of the total perennial stream network. In this sense, there is adequate habitat for cool- and cold-water fishes on the island. As Cyprus is situated close to the continent (Asia Minor is less than 100 km distant), and salmonids are able to migrate via marine habitats (at least during cool climatic periods in the Quaternary), a presence of native trout can be expected on this island. The rivers of southern Asia Minor are inhabited by native trout species (belonging to Adriatic and marmoratus lineages). However, there is no historic record of native trout populations on Cyprus, unlike on Corsica, Sardinia or Sicily, where native trout are present. Scant historic writings mention the 'brown trout' being introduced when Cyprus was a British Colony. We report here on the phylogenetic status of Salmo spp. from Cyprus for the first time.
We collected trout (by electrofishing) from six localities, representing three independent river basins in 2015 and 2016. Seventy-four specimens of trout (Salmo spp.) were fin-clipped. Our extensive electrofishing surveys show that trout are present in approximately 55 km of streams on the Troodos massif. We used sequence analysis of the mitochondrial DNA marker Control region and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) with BseLI endonuclease for the nuclear marker Lactate dehydrogenase gene (LDH, partial sequence of 428 bp length). The results were compared with available published data for Control region and compared with representatives of other phylogenetic lineages of trout (Danubian, marmoratus and Adriatic) for LDH.
Both molecular markers revealed that all specimens from Cyprus belong to the north group of Atlantic lineage of brown trout. Although the southern group of Atlantic lineage is present naturally in the Mediterranean area (in Morocco and Sicily), LDH genotypes and Control region haplotypes of trout from Cyprus belong to the northern Atlantic group, which is not native in the Mediterranean Region. The most frequent allele was LDH-C1*90 (92%) which dominantly characterizes trout populations of the north Atlantic origin. The most common haplotypes were ATcs2-4, characteristic for the commercially used strains of the north Atlantic group, supporting the non-native origin of the Cypriot populations. Beside mentioned haplotypes we detected two additional haplotypes (Y6 and unpublished one), which also have north Atlantic origin. Since very little stocking has taken place using brown trout in recent decades (rainbow trout being preferred), investigated specimens may be the descendants of the established populations introduced by the British in the 1940s.
Keywords:
Salmo trutta complex,
Introduced Species,
Mediterranean,
molecular identification,
genetic variability
Conference:
XVI European Congress of Ichthyology, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2 Sep - 6 Sep, 2019.
Presentation Type:
Poster
Topic:
THREATS AND CONSERVATION
Citation:
Vukic
J,
Barcytė
D,
Zogaris
S,
Maric
S and
Sanda
R
(2019). No native trout on Cyprus.
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
XVI European Congress of Ichthyology.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.07.00147
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Received:
30 May 2019;
Published Online:
14 Aug 2019.
*
Correspondence:
PhD. Radek Sanda, Independent researcher, 115 79 Prague, Czechia, rsanda@seznam.cz