New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
Review
Gambusia in New Zealand: really bad or just misunderstood?
Nicholas Ling
Centre for Biodiversity and Ecology Research
Department of Biological Sciences
The University of Waikato
Private Bag 3105
Hamilton, New Zealand
email: nling@waikato.ac.nz
Abstract Mosquitofish (Gambusia spp.) have been
spread throughout most of the temperate world during the 20th Century as biological
control agents for mosquitoes. However, in many areas of introduction these
small aggressive fish have been implicated in the displacement or exclusion
of native species of fish and amphibians. Those species most affected are
small, surface-feeding, littoral-zone fishes and the egg and larval stages
of amphibians. In New Zealand, the western mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis,
was introduced at Auckland in 1930 and has since spread throughout much of
the North Island with recent introductions to the northern South Island. They
have been implicated in the decline of dwarf inanga, Galaxias gracilis,
and may affect recruitment of black mudfish, although the continued abundance
of inanga, mudfish, and other small-bodied natives at sites long inhabited
by Gambusia implies that competition or predation by the latter may
be minimal and that Gambusia occupies an underutilised niche in New
Zealand aquatic environments. The ability of Gambusia to cause ecosystem
alteration by selective removal of invertebrate grazers is possibly of greater
concern in New Zealand than any perceived threat to native fishes.
Keywords Gambusia; mosquitofish; invasive species;
inanga; mudfish
M03072; Received 30 October 2003; accepted 1 December 2003; Online publication
date 3 August 2004
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2004, Vol. 38:
473-480
0028-8330/04/3803-0473 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2004
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