Information on when the species arrived the environment, features that made them easily identifiable as alien or invasive species, its means and agent of entry, and if possible efforts to control its spread and negative effects on local populations.

Nile perch and water hyacinth in Lake Victoria would be the most well known examples from Africa, I believe.

For some info, see: http://calendar.k-state.edu/withlab/consbiol/IUCN_invaders.pdf

Information on ongoing research, news reports, speculations, personal scientific observations etc on invasive species in tropical environments and the ecological effects are also welcome.

I also have a keen interest in aquatic invasions in tropical ecosystems and I have quite a bit of data for South Africa and Mauritius (happy to share). May I ask whether this is just out of interest for you or whether there is a definite goal?

Asian fish tapeworm, Bothriocephalus acheilognathi, has been introduced into Lake Gatun, Panama.

Dear Irfan, its actually an interest for future consideration. For the mean time its targeted towards educative and informative intentions.

..will be glad to share in your data, it may provided the needed spur for research purposes. Tanx Irfan.

Dear Azubuike, for alien fish records by country the best place to look is FishBase.org

I will also be able to provide some unpublished data on Mauritius.

Thanks Irfan, i've tried Fishbase. Its quite a tedious search and not as elaborate as expected.

I'll need a researcher's view point on invasive scenarios for tropical fish and shellfish species.

In the caribbean region there are some iconic cases: fishes, like lion fish (Pterois spp.), crabs, like Charibdys helleri; shrimps, like Penaeus monodon; algae, like Kappaphicus alvarezi; molluscs, as Perna viridis; and so....

Thanks Arnaldo for your contribution and attached document. From the abstract the paper seems quite interesting and seems to carry the concept i had in mind about invasive species.

Pls is there an English version available for non-Spanish speaking countries?

Unfortunately, i did not find an english version of that article. However, I believe this one will be of your interest

Thanks Arnaldo for your effort, the article had very interesting contents. Cheers

Hi Azubuike, a most striking example is the introduction of Red Swamp Crayfish Procambarus clarkii to Lake Naivasha and other places in East Africa, first introduced to provide forage for introduced large-mouth bass, with devastating consequences for the aquatic vegetation and Tilapia fisheries, and subsequent collapse of the crayfish. The developing situation has been described in by David Harper et al. 2003 and by John Foster & David Harper 2007 in Francesca Gherardi's edited 'Biological Invaders in Inland Waters'. David Harper has written other papers about the situation. The latest crayfish problem has been the introduction of parthenogenetic Marbled Crayfish Procambarus fallax f. virginalis to Madagascar where they are expanding rapidly. References in my 2012 book 'Management of freshwater biodiversity - crayfish as bioindicators'. With the amazing biodiversity of West Africa, including indigenous river prawns, it's worth trying to keep Nigeria crayfish-free. Cheers, Julian

Great contribution Julian! This is a typical scenario i was expecting from contributors. Thanks for your efforts. If you can pls kindly attach the papers by David harper et al 2003 and Foster and Harper 2007 or send to me at [email protected].

I should also strongly consider getting your book.

Thanks again.