Introduced predatory fishes have had consistently severe consequences for native fishes in stream environments around the world, although the drivers of these effects are often unclear. In the Swartkops River headwaters in South Africa, native Eastern Cape redfin Pseudobarbus afer were always absent from sites occupied by non‐native black basses Micropterus salmoides and Micropterus dolomieu , but generally co‐occurred with th...

African sharptooth catfish Clarias gariepinus is native to most of Africa and small parts of Asia, but has been introduced to 37 countries mainly for aquaculture. This review of introductions, establishment, spread and impact of C. gariepinus in Brazil and outside of its native range in South Africa provides evidence that the species has been able to overcome all barriers to invasion in both countries. Following initial introd...

Rheophilic cyprinids have been detrimentally affected by impoundments, which alter flow regimes, the physical environment and block migration routes. Initial evidence for a southern African cyprinid, smallmouth yellowfish Labeobarbus aeneus , suggested that dependence on riverine spawning areas limits their success within the turbid impoundments of the Orange River system. However, well‐established impoundment populations have...

Southern Africa has a long history of non‐native fish introductions for the enhancement of recreational and commercial fisheries, due to a perceived lack of suitable native species. This has resulted in some important inland fisheries being based on non‐native fishes. Regionally, these introductions are predominantly not benign, and non‐native fishes are considered one of the main threats to aquatic biodiversity because they a...

The aim of this study was to use specimens of the largemouth yellowfish Labeobarbus kimberleyensis, southern Africa's largest cyprinid [IUCN red‐listed as Near Threatened (NT)], obtained from gillnet by‐catch to describe aspects of its biology in order to assist future conservation and management decisions. Ninety three L. kimberleyensis were collected between March 2007 and May 2008 from Lake Gariep, South Africa. Labeobarbus...

A total of 816 common carp Cyprinus carpio asteriscus otolith pairs were collected from Lake Gariep, South Africa. Otoliths were interpreted whole, submerged in methyl salicylate and viewed under transmitted light. The precision of growth zone counts of the primary reader was estimated at 5·54 and 7·03% using the average per cent error method and the coefficient of variation, respectively. Age‐bias plots indicated no systemati...

Angler counts, on‐lake interviews and a household survey were used to estimate angler effort and participation in Lake Gariep, South Africa’s largest inland water body. Annual fishing effort was estimated from instantaneous counts at 16392 angler day −1 yr −1 . Recreational and subsistence anglers contributed 41 and 59% to the total annual fishing effort, respectively. Household surveys in lakeshore settlements estimated that...