Impacts of hatchery-reared mandarin fish Siniperca chuatsi stocking on wild fish community and water quality in a shallow Yangtze lake

Scientific Reports
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Abstract

Mandarin fish Siniperca chuatsi, a valuable piscivorous fish, have been stocked into many lakes in China since the 1990s. This study did the first attempt to evaluate the ecological effects of hatchery-reared mandarin fish stocking in the Yangtze River basin lakes. Our study demonstrated a significant change in fish community composition after mandarin fish stocking, but no fish extinction was observed. No significant difference was observed in the total density of 13 forage fish before and after mandarin fish stocking, but the total biomass showed a significant decline after mandarin fish stocking. Significant differences in length-frequency distributions were observed for Carassius auratusPseudorasbora parva and Toxabramis swinhonis captured before and after stocking mandarin fish. No significant change in habitat distribution was detected before and after mandarin fish stocking. A marked decline in total nitrogen and a slight decline in total phosphorus were observed while a slight increasing trend for Secchi depth was found after stocking. Our findings suggested that mandarin fish stocking can increase predation pressure on forage fish and subsequently optimize the food web structure. Also, mandarin fish stocking has the potential to improve water quality and may be a feasible strategy to alleviate eutrophication of shallow Yangtze lakes.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Impacts of hatchery-reared mandarin fish Siniperca chuatsi stocking on wild fish community and water quality in a shallow Yangtze lake
Series title Scientific Reports
DOI 10.1038/s41598-018-29758-z
Volume 8
Year Published 2018
Language English
Publisher Springer Nature
Contributing office(s) Western Fisheries Research Center
Description Article number: 11481; 11 p.
First page 1
Last page 11
Country China
Other Geospatial Biandantang Lake
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