Swimming performance in early life stages of three threatened Iberian Leuciscidae
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Swimming performance in early life stages of three threatened Iberian Leuciscidae Daniel Mameri 1
&
Carla Sousa-Santos 2 & Joana Isabel Robalo 2 & Fátima Gil 3 & Ana Margarida Faria 2
Received: 21 June 2019 / Revised: 11 November 2019 / Accepted: 4 December 2019 # ISPA, CRL 2019
Abstract Rivers are dynamic systems where flow is constantly changing, making early fish life stages with lower swimming abilities potentially vulnerable to rapid changes in water velocity. In this study, we evaluated the response of critical young life stages of three Iberian leuciscids – Achondrostoma occidentale, Iberochondrostoma lusitanicum, and Iberochondrostoma almacai – to increasing water velocities, by determining their critical swimming speed (Ucrit) and its relation with morphometric traits potentially associated with better swimmers. Results suggest a positive relation between both fish length and body depth with Ucrit and species-specific differences in swimming performance. Moreover, most fish could not withstand the maximum velocity tested (20 cm s−1), which can be surpassed in the rivers they occur. This study highlights the importance of considering individual traits for future management of fish stocks in rivers. Keywords River flow . Early fish life stages . Critical swimming speed . Morphometric traits
Introduction Freshwater organisms are currently facing several threats, which include water pollution and removal, changes in land use, introduction of exotic species, and obstruction and flow regulation by dams and weirs (Dudgeon et al. 2006; Vörösmarty et al. 2010). In this last scenario, rapid variations in flow caused by hydropower dams (e.g., hydropeaking releases) can be particularly harmful for fish species, especially at young life stages. Additionally, more intense rainfall events under the ongoing climate change scenario (Milly et al. 2002) can also lead to abrupt changes in river flow and to an increasing risk of fish drift downstream (Lechner et al. 2016). Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-019-00331-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Daniel Mameri [email protected] 1
CEF - Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal
2
MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, ISPA – Instituto Universitário, Rua Jardim do Tabaco 34, 1149-041 Lisbon, Portugal
3
Aquário Vasco da Gama, Cruz Quebrada-Dafundo, Portugal
Fish are particularly vulnerable to these threats. Depending on the stage of their life cycle, they may need to perform upstream migrations along the river to reach suitable habitat areas for growth, feeding, refuge, reproduction, and spawning, meaning they will have to swim against the current. Furthermore, these populations are highly dependent on the annual recruitment, which is in turn related to the survival of larvae and young of the year (Magalhães et al. 2003; Schmutz et al. 2016). In this context
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