Habitat Utilization by an Introduced Fish, Gambusia Affinis, In Nebraska (Actinopterygii: Poeciliidae)

Authors

John D. Lynch, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Date of this Version

1988

Comments

1988. Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences, XVI: 63-67. Copyright © 1988 Lynch

Abstract

Mosquito-fish (Gambusia affinis) were introduced into Nebraska in 1972, and by 1987 had become well-established in two major rivers (Platte and Republican). In Nebraska, these fishes occupy lentic habitats (mostly sandpits and marshes into which they were usually introduced). but they also are abundant in lotic habitats (mostly in major rivers), where they primarily occur in shallow waters having low currents, habitats they invaded following escape from "cultivation." In these lotic microhabitats, they have the potential to achieve high population densities and to severely exploit such resources as become available