The presence of cryptic species can hinder effective conservation planning and implementation, as has been the case for speciose groups of freshwater fishes that are difficult to differentiate due to conserved morphologies. The West Texas shiner Notropis megalops and the Texas shiner Notropis amabilis are a cryptic pair of leuciscids (minnows) that co-occur in spring-fed tributaries of the Rio Grande in Texas and Mexico. Both N.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA parasitological investigation of Cyprinella venusta and Notropis cf. stramineus sampled in Texas, USA, in the Guadalupe River, revealed the presence of Gyrodactylus crysoleucas Mizelle and Kritsky, 1967 on C. venusta, and Gyrodactylus mediotorus King, Marcogliese, Forest, McLaughlin & Bentzen, 2013 on both fish species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecent collections of the Asian fish tapeworm Bothriocephalus acheilognathi in the Rio Grande have raised concern about the potential impacts on Rio Grande endemic and imperiled fishes. The objectives of this study were to determine distribution and definitive hosts of the Asian fish tapeworm within the Rio Grande drainage and to quantify occurrences and abundances. In total, 1,992 fish spanning 11 families were collected and examined for Asian fish tapeworms in the Rio Grande and the Pecos and Devils rivers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBothriocephalus acheilognathi is an introduced tapeworm in North America often reported as a serious ecological threat to native fishes. In this paper, we report the first record of B. acheilognathi in the Big Bend region of the Rio Grande in Texas (known as the Río Bravo del Norte in Mexico).
View Article and Find Full Text PDF