Taxonomic re-evaluation of the non-native cichlid in Portuguese drainages

João Carecho, Flávia Baduy, Pedro M. Guerreiro, João L. Saraiva, Filipe Ribeiro and Ana Veríssimo

FiSHMED 2018.001: 12p

Abstract : A non-native cichlid fish firstly reported in Portugal in 1940 was originally identified as Cichlasoma facetum (Jenyns 1842) based on specimens reported from “Praia de Mira” (Vouga drainage, northwestern Portugal). Currently, the species is known only from three southern Portuguese river drainages, namely Sado, Arade and Guadiana, and no other record has been made from Praia de Mira or the Vouga drainage since the original record. The genus Cichlasoma has since suffered major taxonomic revisions: C. facetum has been considered a species-complex and proposed as the new genus Australoheros, including many species. Given the current taxonomic re-arrangement of the C. facetum species group, we performed a taxonomic re-evaluation of species identity of this non-native cichlid in Portuguese drainages using morphological and molecular analyses. Morphological data collected on specimens sampled in the Sado river drainages confirmed the identification as Australoheros facetus. Moreover, nucleotide sequences of the cytochrome b gene obtained from specimens from Sado, Arade and Guadiana showed the existence of a single haplotype across drainages, which was 100% identical to A. facetus specimens collected in native Argentinean waters (i.e. Uruguay River). The current non-native distribution range of the species in Portugal results from human-mediated introductions across the southern drainages.

Keywords : Non-native fish, Cichlids, Taxonomic identification, Morphology, Cytochrome b

Citation : Carecho J, Baduy F, Guerreiro PM, Saraiva JL, Ribeiro F, Veríssimo A (2018) Taxonomic re-evaluation of the non-native cichlid in Portuguese drainages. Fishes in Mediterranean Environments 2018.001: 12p. https://doi.org/10.29094/FiSHMED.2018.001

Article first published online : 14 May 2018

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FiSHMED is an international scientific journal edited by 
the Iberian Society of Ichthyology – SIBIC