Short-term responses of glass eels transported from UK to small Belgian streams

• Published in: Annales de Limnologie - International Journal of Limnology
• Main Authors: Ovidio, Michaël, Tarrago-Bes, Frédérique, Nzau Matondo, Billy
• Other Authors: AFFISH-RC - Applied and Fundamental FISH Research Center - ULiège
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: EDP Sciences 2015
• Subjects: Glass eels; restocking; growth; dispersion; habitat; Streams; Life sciences; Aquatic sciences & oceanology; Sciences du vivant; Sciences aquatiques & océanologie; Anguilla anguilla
• Online Access: https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/184026; https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/184026/1/Int.J.Limn-Glasseel_2015.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1051/limn/2015016

peer reviewed Restocking of inland waters with glass eels is one of the recovery options to prevent the decline of European eel Anguilla anguilla (L.) populations. We studied the growth, dispersion, density and habitat preferences in the imported glass eels from United-Kingdom and stocked in three typologically different small Belgian streams, using electrofishing surveys around the single release point, 1 year following stocking. Our results clearly support that the recaptured individuals stocked in our streams farther from the sea, survived, grew, dispersed upstream and downstream. Elvers exploited the complete transversal section of stream, with preference for the sheltered microhabitats near the banks with slower water velocity and low depth. Length-weight relationship was different between streams in terms of allometric coefficient (b). We assume that microhabitats and food availabilities lead to contrasted results in terms of growth and absolute occurrence. Restocking of glass eels in small middle-land streams was found to be an interesting and unconventional option that requires adequate stream and habitat selection.