Quote:
Originally Posted by KegRiver
From time to time I see people claiming that half the fish species in Alberta are introduced species.
My research does not support this claim.
From the Royal Alberta Museum;
"Alberta has 51 native species of fish and 8 introduced species"
From SRD;
"There are approximately 65 species of fish swimming in Alberta waters. Of these:
* 54 of these species have established populations in the province, and include a mix of both native and introduced fish.
* 11 species have all been introduced to the province, either through legal stocking or through illegal or accidental release. These fish are present in limited numbers in Alberta."
No matter which set of figures one chooses to believe, if either, it is clear that introduced species are no where near half the number of native species.
Of interest, several of the introduced species have contributed to the loss of native species in the waters they presently occupy.
I should also note that several of the introduced species came from the pet trade and are most often considered to be minnows. In other words, they are very small fish species.
The only larger fish species introduced, that I could discover, were; Brown Trout, Golden Trout (Thanks Horsetrader), Small Mouth Bass, (unsuccessful to date)and Grass Carp.
Some of the small species include; Goldfish, African Jewelfish, *****ly Sculpin, Mosquito Fish, Three Spined Stickleback, Pumpkin Seed, and Sailfin Molly. That makes seven by my math. Add the former large species and we get a total of 11 which is the number SRD gives.
It looks to me like there are only two species of sport fish that were introduced and one of those requires a very specific environment.
This is not the picture some seem to attempting paint.
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n Alberta we can find 62 species of fish from which about 41 species are very little known while the other 21 species of fish are called sport or game fish, and are of interest commercial and domestic fishers as well as to anglers. 16 of these appreciated fish species are native to Alberta and 5 were introduced to this area through stocking.
Brook trout, golden trout, brown trout, Dolly Varden and smallmouth bass are the five species of game fish that have been introduced to Alberta. On the other hand, there are some fish species (non-game) that were illegally introduced and that developed self sustain populations, including: