New invasive fish spreads through the Ebro delta; 80% of native species threatened

Biologists have researched and described for the first time in Europe the spread of the invasive dojo loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) fish species. The fish comes from East Asia and was first discovered in the Ebro delta in 2001. Since then, it has occupied various parts of the river during its lightning spread, and is now definitively established. The researchers do not rule out that it could occupy new areas within coming years and threaten the survival of native species. The spread of the dojo loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) or weather loach, as this oriental fish from the same family as the colmilleja (Cobitis Paludica) of Spain and Portugal is commonly known, contrasts starkly with the decline of native fish in the rivers and wetlands throughout the Iberian Peninsula, where 80% of species are threatened. The introduction of species from different areas is one of the most serious threats to the preservation of biodiversity, as explained in this study published in the latest issue of Biological Invasions. “Aquatic ecosystems on the continent are the most seriously affected by invasive species, with fish populations being particularly devastated,” Miguel Clavero, the report’s lead author and researcher at the Forest Technology Centre of Catalonia, tells SINC. Nowadays, the majority of river basins throughout the Iberian Peninsula contain more foreign species than native ones.