Dietary habits of invasive Ponto-Caspian gobies in the Croatian part of the Danube River basin and their potential impact on benthic fish communities

Abstract

Invasive Ponto-Caspian (P-C(1)) gobies have recently caused dramatic changes in fish assemblage structures throughout the Danube basin. While their presence in the Croatian part of the basin has been noted and distribution studied, their dietary habits and impacts on native fish communities have, until now, been unknown. In 2011, 17 locations in the Sava River Basin were sampled for fish and 15 for benthic invertebrates. Fish population monitoring data, available for nine seasons (2003-2006 and 2010-2014) and 12 locations, were used to analyse the impacts of P-C gobies on benthic fish abundance. Gut content analysis indicates that the monkey goby Neogobius fluviatilis diet is very diverse, but dominated by Trichoptera, Chironomidae, Bivalvia and Odonata. The diet overlaps considerably with the round goby Neogobius melanostomus diet, although Gastropoda are dominant in the latter's diet. Small fish and Gammarus sp. dominate the bighead goby Ponticola kessleri diet. Comparison of gut content with the prey available in the environment indicates that monkey and round gobies exhibit preference for Trichoptera, Megaloptera and Coleoptera, and bighead goby for Trichoptera, Gammarus sp. and Pisces. P-C gobies in the Sava River are spreading upstream, towards the reaches with lower fish diversity. Analyses indicate potentially positive impacts of P-C gobies' presence on some fish populations: round and bighead goby on Balkan golden loach Sabanejewia balcanica and monkey goby on common carp Cyprinus carpio, crucian carp Carassius carassius, burbot Lota lota and Balkan loach Cobitis elongata. However, there are also indications that bighead and round goby could adversely impact the native chub Squalius cephalus and zingel Zingel zingel populations, respectively. As P-C gobies are still in the expansionary period of invasion and the ecosystem still adapting to new circumstances, continued monitoring of fish population dynamics in the Sava basin is needed to determine the outcome and impacts of this invasion.

Keywords: Benthic fauna; Diet; Fish abundance; Neogobius fluviatilis; Neogobius melanostomus; Ponticola kessleri.