Quarter 2 Article 7
Trouble in Paradise (the Fishy Kind) as Introduced Tilapia Dine on Native Fish Fry
January 12, 2010
These invasive species are doing harm to the rest of the environment because they are competing with the native species. The invasive species are usually introduced intentionally but then gets out of hand and out of control.
Scientists suspect that tilapia introduced to the waterways of the Fiji Islands may be gobbling up the larvae and juvenile fish of several native species of goby, fish that live in both fresh and salt water and begin their lives in island streams. The team found that streams with tilapia contained 11 fewer species of native fishes than those without; species most sensitive to introduced tilapia included the throat-spine gudgeon, the olive flathead-gudgeon, and other gobies. In general, sites where tilapia were absent had more species of native fish. Since tilapia are known to consume the larvae and juvenile fish, the researchers assume that the introduced species may be consuming the native ones as they make their way upstream and down. Absence of forest cover adjacent to streams was also correlated to fewer fish species.
Archipelago-a large group or chain of islands: the Malay Archipelago.
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