- Title
- Adult African sharptooth catfish, Clarias gariepinus, population dynamics in a small invaded warm-temperate impoundment
- Creator
- Booth, Anthony J, Traas, Graham R L, Weyl, Olaf L F
- Date
- 2010
- Type
- text
- Type
- article
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/123596
- Identifier
- vital:35461
- Identifier
- https://doi.10.3377/004.045.0208
- Description
- African sharptooth catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell 1822), is a potamodromous species that is naturally distributed from Turkey to the Orange River, South Africa (Skelton 1993). It is omnivorous, feeding on plankton, vegetation, invertebrates, carrion and fish (de Moor & Bruton 1988) and may exhibit pack-hunting behaviour when foraging for small fish (Bruton 1979; Merron 1993). Clarias gariepinus is a large (>150 cm TL, >30 kg; Bruton 1976), long-lived (validated to at least 15 years, Weyl & Booth 2008) and fast-growing (Bruton & Allanson 1980; Quick & Bruton 1984; Richardson et al. 2009) fish that attains sexual maturity within two years of age (de Moor & Bruton 1988). It is eurythermic (80–35°C), mesohalic (0–10 ppt) and has the ability to airbreathe. These attributes predispose it to surviving in all but the most adverse of conditions and have directly contributed to its wide use as an aquaculture species. These attributes have also contributed to its ability to invade waterbodies beyond its natural range (de Moor & Bruton 1988) and after inadvertent introductions such as by escape from aquaculture facilities or through water transfer schemes, C. gariepinus has established populations in many non-native environments. Such invasions include the Philippines (Mercene 1997), Bangladesh (Arthur & Ahmed 2002), Thailand (Vidthayanon 2005), India (Bhakta & Bandyopadhyay 2007) and Brazil (Cambray 2005; Vitule et al. 2006; Rocha & Schiavetti 2007). In South Africa, C. gariepinus invaded the temperate Great Fish River catchment after the species was translocated from the Orange River through a Interbasin Water Transfer (IBWT) scheme (Laurenson et al. 1989). Potential threats include predation of and competition with indigenous species, habitat degradation, and the spread of diseases and parasites (Dudgeon et al. 2006).
- Format
- 11 pages, pdf
- Language
- English
- Relation
- African Zoology, Booth, A.J., Traasg, G.R. and Weyl, O.L., 2010. Adult African sharptooth catfish, Clarias gariepinus, population dynamics in a small invaded warm-temperate impoundment. African Zoology, 45(2), pp.299-308, African Zoology volume 45 number 2 299 308 2010 1562-7020
- Rights
- African Zoology
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the BioOne Complete Open Access Statement (https://bioone.org/about)
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Collections
Weyl, Olaf L F (Prof)
Booth, Anthony John (Prof)
RU Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science
SDG 14. Life Below Water
RU South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB)
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