I am extremely interested in the conservation of threatened freshwater fish, especially those from European waters. As P. hellenicus is threatened from abstraction pollution and loss of habitat, it strikes me that this species could benefit greatly from a captive breeding program. The ubiquitous and closely related P.pungitius is straight forward to breed in captivity and it may well be that P.hellenicus is too.
As of now, I have been unable to find any papers specifying the difference in behavior, feeding and reproductive ecology or resistance to disease between these two species. I am fascinated about how two such closely related species can differ so greatly in terms of their abundance and distribution. If a captive breeding program was established, then perhaps at a later date these questions can be answered using a number of tank based experiments.
Article Threatened Fishes of the World: Pungitius hellenicus Stephan...
You should also consider germ cell transplantation using spermatogonia from the endangered species into larvae or adults from the related easy to grow species. Look at the Wonderful papers by Yoshizaki et al and Franca et al.
Once in 1998 Dr. Charalambos K. Daoulas started keeping and breeding them in captivity, but I am not sure if he succeeded or not. I haven't had any contact since then. You may ask him or Dr. Economidis about it.
"I am extremely interested in the conservation of threatened freshwater fish, especially those from European waters. As P. hellenicus is threatened from abstraction pollution and loss of habitat, it strikes me that this species could benefit greatly from a captive breeding program."
Very nice of you...
Do you have any long-term project?
P.S. Otherwise it will be only aquaristics...
In best case scenario: a successful one
In worst case scenario: well, as the "predator" said to Danny Glover in the movie Predator 2...
As at now, non. I shall search for information on it and get accross.
Many thanks all for responding to my query. It seems to me that captive breeding programmes for freshwater fish (in the UK at least i.e. ZSL and Chester Zoo) tend to focus the majority of their efforts conserving tropical/exotic species from the Americas etc rather than concentrating on native European species. The hellenic stickleback P.hellenicus, the Corfu and Hispanic toothcarps Valencia letourneuxi and V.hispanica to name but a few, strike me as prime candidates for a long term conservation action plan, owing to their restricted and fragmented range and decreasing population trends, as well as their small size and suitability to aquaria. Ideally this work would be carried out in the country of origen with local experts in the field and coupled with an awareness/education programme for the general populace living in the areas where these species retain a fin hold. The question is where does one look for funding for this sort of conservation work? Any tips would be gratefully recieved.
This paper may be of some help to you.
Phylogenetic Relationships of Sticklebacks (Gasterosteidae), with Emphasis on Ninespine Sticklebacks (Pungitius SPP.) Behaviour (2004) 141: 1485-1497 , November 01, 2004 By Keivany, Yazdan; Nelson, Joseph S
Thank you Dola,
Yes I read this paper with interest. P.pungitius is such a common species throughout the temperate northern hemisphere. I am extremely interested in the difference in ecology between P.pungitius and P.hellenicus and how this had lead to P.helenicus being restricted to a few pools, ditches and springs in a single rivers catchment (Sperchios), whilst the other species is so widespread and abundant. Perhaps it is something to do with salinity tolerance, as I think I am correct in saying P.helenicus is restricted to freshwaters whilst P.pungitius is able to tolerate fully fresh to full salt waters. However it may be a more subtle combination of behavioural and physiological atrributes. There could be a great little project here! Thanks for your interest.
Hello to everybody, as far as I know no such project has been done for P. hellenicus, even if I know some efforts, to get funds for conservation.
Answering to Rayner’s question about possible sources of funding for conservation purposes, the EU LIFE Programme is suitable, but it gives only 50-75% of the total amount that will be proposed and the rest should be found by other sources (e.g. local or national partners).
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