Fight in the Gatúnsee: Marine fish displace local species!

Fight in the Gatúnsee: Marine fish displace local species!

in the Panama Canal, an impressive waterway that connects the Atlantic with the Pacific, there are drastic changes in the fish populations. Scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Water Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) and the Free University of Berlin have discovered that the proportion of Mariner fish in the Gatúnsee rose from 26 percent before the channel expansion in 2016 to alarming 76 percent. While the freshwater fish species that once dominated the region back, invasive species rise sharply, which, according to the researchers' warnings, has significant effects on the local ecosystem, such as Kleine Zeitung reported.

The reason for these upheavals lies in the structural changes during the channel expansion. New, larger locks not only enable the traveling ships, but also marine fishing a unhindered passage. As a result, many fish can cross the channel and penetrate into new habitats, which significantly changed the food network in Lake Gatún, as the co -author of the study, Jonathan Jeschke, explains. In addition, the researchers fear that some species could successfully pass the channel and settle in the respective oceans, which leads to other ecological changes, as well as el País notes

ecosystem under pressure

With an increase in marine fish species, the Gatúnsee, which was once dominated by fresh water fish, is now a place where aggressors predominate in the form of predatory fish, such as the Tarpon. These fish, which can often be two meters long, change the existing food network significantly. Before the channel expansion, the biomass content of freshwater fish made 57 percent, now it is only 24 percent. The researchers warn that the long -term effects of these invasive populations are difficult to predict because the ecological balance is shifting as well as local fishing.