A lesser weever fish Echiichthys vipera in the Clyde Estuary

2006·1.2 MB·

by  Myles O’Reilly

Cook, E., Willis, K., and Lozano, M. (2003). Alien Kilbride for closer examination in an aquarium,
Invasion. Anewnon-nativeinvasivespeciesonthewest before beingreturned to the estuary the following
cCTOHorahbaureassrnttiLasiocoTnfenina,Sm)ece.aosntHSl(.Say1Jonn.5cdoi.pJesuStl(eyAy1s9oM24ofS04fL0)tN4o.he)new.dsBoAlrneil.ttiiCtesaenhprrsF2epa8leu:clnii1aed2s.eacNoom.(eAs2m.puphnpid.epro1-dt2ah7,e. wmdseeaotylt.ltelyIetaedsspostfahlsneaednsksttseyhpdeiwctipahtrlehomcyhiaeanlreallncoittgwehirtbsilhsavtciitokcalieolftbirlfsiitsqnhudeeoaernnmsdoalu(tDbfihrip,onp,wetnroa-,ps
microscopeatDunstaffhage. 1987).
Platvoet,D.,DeBruyne,R.H.,andGmeligMeyling,A.W. LesserWeeversweredescribedas“veryrare”inthe
(1995). DescriptionofanewCaprella-speciesfromthe ClydeSeaAreabyBagenal,(1965)althoughHaliday
NAemtphheirplaonddas,:CaCparperlleildleaa).macBuhloletinnovZ.osopelco.gisc(hCruMsutsaceeuamn,, i(n196K9ar)nreescorBdaeyd,juMvielnliploerst.arouSnidnc1e.5-t2hcenmltohnegynehtatveed
15(1),1-4. periodicallyturnedupinKarnesBayandtherehave
ScotlandonSunday(7September2003).Shrimpinvasion beenoccasionalstingingincidentsthereandonthe
pTnDSaoioutsenniemodvsehaeyoyt,esheT,rTa.?eiaD.lmt.,ief,teso.Con(Kap1at1lnieevay,ep,rsihlFLe..,2l,l0f0NiJ4saa)huc..kgsAholtnio,enn,Di.nOv.a,s(i2Ko0en0n4in)s.ewdiyp,OinngS.oOtu.ht,e bBAliiuykotrelsltohyhgieirtchecaaoltlcdmoSnoatesdasttesiroao(nftJeiMSmicnlolutAptmtoibrksetih,rnwsspaoetanrer,sre.spUcmrnoeeimsvaemenn.rst)si.fatteywaIltlbMasatteriheimemnersess
occurrence ofthe caprellid amphipod, Caprella mutica arelikelytocomeincontactwiththefish. Asthefish
Schurin1935,inIreland.IrishNaturalistsJournal.27(11), prefershallowsublittoralwatersthevulnerabletime
437-439. ispaddlingatlowwater. OnememberofSEPA’s
Willis, K.J., Cook, E.J., Lozano-Femandez, M. and staffremembersbeingstungbyaweeverfish,asa
ptcThraoeeknsefecueancrptherainet,clieloi1n.don(&a2m0tp0Ah3hbe)si.tpbrioaodcAltqo)Cug.aaypcSruatelnltdAlunardcemorunerttewrilsoca,lat.edoC6faitnshnaetdarialon,idtcueecr1tn-ia(4otPniosJosuntloaeylrf bwHoaeyssiunbbes1fe9oq7ru1eenattlhyeGlcaabspnetacucaramerdedoacnmhdorBkeeiallceh“den(tnvheiearrofinsMmhae.lnltaTaihlgil).sy
2003. aware”!(PatDuffy,SEPA,/7er.s.comm.).
Willis, K.J., Cook, E.J., Lozano-Femandez, M. and TheoccurrenceofajuvenileLesserWeeverinthe
Takeuchi,I.(2004). Firstrecordofthecaprellidamphipod, ClydeEstuarydoesappeartobeunusualandsuggests
Caprellamutica, fortheUK. JournaloftheMarine thatapopulationofadultsmaybepresentnearby.
BiologicalAssociationoftheUK. 84:1027-1028. However, monitoring of the estuarine fish
communitiesbetweenDumbartonandBowling(and
ALESSERWEEVERFISHECHIICHTHYS fcuarrtrhieerdoduotwfnourthteimeesstauayreyaratsiPniclela1r97B9anakn)dnhoasLebseseenr
VIPERAINTHECLYDEESTUARY Weevershaveeverbeenrecorded. Thenearestrecord
MylesO’Reilly ofanotherLesserWeeverappearstobeaspecimen
ScottishEnvironmentProtectionAgency heldbyGlasgowMuseumstrawledbetweenDunoon
RedwoodCrescent and Innellan in 1976 (Richard Sutcliffe, Glasgow
EastKilbride,GlasgowG745PP Museums, pers. comm.). It is possible that
[email protected] distributionsofsomeestuarinefishspeciesmaybe
shifting in response to environmental changes
The Lesser Weever {Echiichthys vipera) with its whether these be localised water quality
venomousdorsalspinesiswellknownasahazardto improvements, sedimentary changes or perhaps
bcaotmhemrosnanfdurtshuerrfernsortinhsbouutthoecrcnurBsritianinc.oastItalisarleeasss bGultobiatliswtaononeianrgly(tSomistahy,w2h0e0t2h,erHitshceoacpkpeetaraaln,c2e0o0f4t)he-
alongthenorthcoastofWales,theLiverpoolBay LesserWeever in the estuary is indicative ofany
area and up into the Solway Firth (Parker- trend.
Humphreys, 2004). They appear to like sandy TheScottishAssociationforMarineScience(SAMS)
estuariesandareverycommonintheRibbleEstuary hascarriedoutannualfishsurveysonanumberof
inLancashire(SteveCoates, EnvirorunentAgency, shoresinwesternScotlandbetween2002and2005
pers. comm.). They feed on a variety ofsmall (MikeBurrows,pers.comm.2005). LesserWeevers
crustaceans(Vasconceloseta/.2004). were caught in NW Scotland at Mellon Charles,
TheScottishEnvirorunentProtectionAgencySEPA Firemore, and Ganavan, near Oban at Tralee and
(and its predecessor the Clyde River Purification Ganavan,andinLochsSweenandCoalisport,andat
Board) have undertaken assessment of the fish TayinloanontheKintyrepeninsula. IntheFirthof
p(soepeulHaetinodnesrsionnth&eHCalmyidletoEns,tu1a9r8y6)f.orDouvreirng20royuetairnse CatlySdkeipanreesasthaenydwCearreracdaaulgehtanodnotnhetKhienAtyyrrsehpierneincsoualsat
beamtrawlingon25”’May2004aLesserWeever at Ayrand Girvan. The numbers capturedwere
wascaughtbetweenCrarmogandMilton,justwestof usually no more than 2-3 per survey though at
the Erskine Bridge. Thejuvenile fish, about6cm FiremoreandGairlochupto 13and18respectively
long,wastransportedalivetotheSEPAlabatEast wererecovered. Overall,between20and30were
157
captured per annum with 37 landed in 2005.
However,thereisnoevidenceofanyincreasingtrend
and press reports (Brown, 2005) that the Lesser
Weeverswereundergoingapopulation“explosion”
arequitemisleading.
REFERENCES
Bagenal,T.B.(1965). TheFaunaoftheClydeSeaArea.
Fishes. ScottishMarineBiologicalAssociation,Millport.
38pp.
Brown,A.(2005). Paddlersinperilaspoisonousweever
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Dipper,F.(1987). BritishSeaFishes.UnderwaterWorld
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Halliday,R.G.(1969). RarefishesfromtheClydeSea
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Henderson,A.R.&Hamilton,J.D.(1986). Thestamsof
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theIrishSea(ICESDivisionVila)1993-2001.
Science Series Technical Report No.120, CEFAS
Lowestoft,68pp.
Smith,P.(2002). UnusualSummerVisitorstotheClyde
SeaArea. UniversityMarineBiologicalStationMillport,
32"^^AnnualReport2001-2002,pp.4-5.
Vasconcelos,R.,Prista,N.,Cabral,H.,Costa,M.J.(2004).
FeedingecologyoftheLesserWeever,Echiichthysvipera
(Cuvier,1829),onthewesterncoastofPormgal.
JournalofAppliedIchthyology,20(3),211-216.
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