Trophic ecology of invasive plecos in Texas

[racoll, posts: 4473]

Pound, K. et al. (2011) Trophic ecology of a nonnative population of suckermouth catfish (Hypostomus plecostomus) in a central Texas spring-fed stream. Environmental Biology of Fishes 90 (3). 277-285.

URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/klu/ebfi/2011/00000090/00000003/00009741

I haven't read in much detail, but surely these are Pterygoplichthys, not Hypostomus?

[MatsP]

I've never heard of a Hypostomus species.

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Mats

[Silurus]

I've never heard of a Hypostomus species.

Sounds like the back half of the sentence is missing.

[MatsP]

Yes, supposed to say "never heard of Hypostomus outside of their native distribution".

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Mats

[Mike_Noren, posts: 1395]

Very likely. P. disjunctivus is recorded from the San Marcos River. One might guess they've ID'd their fish with aquarium literature.

[Silurus]

They were more likely using the USGS database on invasive species as their guide.

http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factshee ... ciesID=761

[Mike_Noren, posts: 1395]

How about that. Bizarrely they list perfectly acceptable literature for the identification, and have reasonable entries for the various species of Pterygoplichthys.

The question then is if there really are Hypostomus in US waters and its just the photos on the Hypostomus page which are wrong.

[MatsP]

I have asked the contact in the abstract page if they have any photos of the fishes they studied, and explained the common confusion.

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Mats

[MatsP]

I have now, a good year later [someone found an old e-mail], had a view of some photos, and they do indeed look like Hypostomus - certainly not Pterygoplichthys, and it's got dark spots on a brown base, so likely Hypostomus.

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Mats

[Jools]

Oddly, a lot of coverage of this kind of thing in Florida in the news today.


Armored catfish wreaking havoc in South Florida lakes
Yahoo! News Blogs (blog)
By Eric Pfeiffer By Eric Pfeiffer | The Sideshow – 6 hrs ago A species of "armored catfish" are damaging South Florida's lakes, causing coastal erosion and even burrowing holes that trip up humans walking along the water's edge. Catfish are usually one ...

Armored Catfish: 3 Things To Know About The Fish Destroying South Florida Lakes
International Business Times
By Amanda Remling: Subscribe to Amanda's RSS feed A species of armored catfish called Loricariidae have been wreaking havoc in South Florida's lakes. Non-native to the waters, the fish have been eating away at the lakes, causing erosion, ...

Armored Catfish Puts South Fla. Community on Edge
First Coast News
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports the armored catfish has no natural predator and is estimated to number in the millions in South Florida. The fish eats algae and dead organic matter, and lays eggs in 18-inch-deep holes it burrows along the sides ...

Armored Catfish Tearing Up Lakes in South Florida
The Inquisitr
Armored catfish, a particularly pesky species of burrowing fish, have been wreaking havoc in lakes in and around South Florida, and there are no signs that the armored catfish terror will be coming to an end any time soon.

Catfish threaten South Fla.
Local 10
The armored catfish is said to have no natural predator and is estimated to number in the millions in South Florida. The fish eats algae and dead organic matter, and lays eggs in 18-inch-deep holes it burrows along the sides of lakes.

Jools

[Suckermouth, posts: 1514]

News agencies find stories in each other to produce, they probably all published their articles after that initial one posted in another thread.