Recent mysid fauna (Mysida) of the Dnieper Reservoir, South-Eastern Ukraine

УДК 595.383.3

К. Arbačiauskas*, R. Novitskiy**
*Nature Research Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania **Oles Honchar Dnipropetrovsk National University, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine

К. Арбачаускас*, Р. Новіцький**
*Центр природничих досліджень, Вільнюс, Литва, arbas@ekoi.lt**Дніпропетровський національний університет імені Олеся Гончара, Дніпропетровськ, Україна, zoolog@ukr.net

The Dnieper Reservoir has significantly contributed as a primary source of invasive Ponto-Caspian crustaceans of Europe; therefore, the mysid populations it sustains are central to the research of invasion histories. However, the reservoir remains a waterbody susceptible to changes including the advent of new species. Mysid investigations in 2012–2014 revealed five species (Limnomysis benedeni, Paramysis lacustris, P. intermedia, P. bakuensis and Katamysis warpachowskyi), inhabiting the Dnieper Reservoir, and one species (L. benedeni), known to occur in the Dnieper-Donbass Canal (49°02’18.37″N 35°21’07.06″E). Including the previously reported Hemimysis anomala, the currently known mysid fauna of the Dnieper Reservoir consists of six species. Two of the species (P. intermedia and P. bakuensis) are reported from the reservoir for the first time. Currently, the dominant species in the shallow littoral zone are L. benedeni and P. intermedia, while P. lacustris mostly occurs in offshore depths. Two out of six occurring species (L. benedeni and P. lacustris) were deliberately introduced into the middle reaches of the Dnieper River, which must have contributed to their establishment in the reservoir.

The contemporary mysid fauna of the Dnieper Reservoir consists of six species. Such species richness approaches the richness of natural mysid assemblages of the region, and further detection of a few other species may be predicted. New species can already be present in the reservoirs and their detection warrants a further mysid-oriented research. It should be noted that although it has never been recorded in the Dnieper Reservoir, the presence of one more mysid species, P. ullskyi, can be expected, as it was historically present in the river pools downstream of the rapids (Zhuravel’, 1955) and currently occurs downstream, in the Kakhovka Reservoir (Pligin et al., 2013; Arbačiauskas and Novitskiy, 2014).

Meanwhile most of remaining four species, presumably, have invaded the Dnieper Reservoir by shipping. However, possibilities of an accidental introduction of these species or their historical presence in some habitats of the middle reaches of the Dnieper River may not be excluded. In conclusion, there have been rather significant changes in documented species composition of mysids in the reservoir, altering the scientifically valuable source populations of European invasions.


Zoocenosis — 2015
Біорізноманіття та роль тварин в екосистемах: Матеріали VІІІ Міжнародної наукової конференції. – Дніпропетровськ: Ліра, 2015. – С. 67-68.