A major step forward in the screening of nonnative species came with the development of the weed risk assessment (WRA) of Pheloung et al.(1) for terrestrial plants of Australia and New Zealand. Based on the generally accepted premise that weeds in one part of the world will have an increased chance of being weedy (i.e., invasive) in other areas with similar environmental conditions, the WRA’s q...

When teleost fishes made their re-entry into seawater about 150-200 million years ago after some 250 million years of evolution in freshwater (Long 1995), they had to overcome a formidable problem. This problem relates to their osmoregulation and to their oviparous habit of spawning eggs that develop unattended (physiologically speaking) in the water masses. The osmolality of the blood plasma o...

Parasitic fish diseases constitute one of the most important problems in fisheries sector. Among fish parasites, cymothoids are obligatory parasites, in­ festing mostly commercially important fishes. They are protandric hermaphrodites and blood suckers, living on the skin, gill filaments, or in the mouth of the fishes. These parasites retard growth and cause emaciation followed by death. Pathol...

Abstract Mining activities have significantly affected the Neotropical freshwater ichthyofauna, most diverse in world. However, no study has systematized knowledge on subject. In this review, we assembled information main impacts of mining crude oil, gold, iron, copper, and bauxite aquatic ecosystems, emphasizing fishes. The obtained shows that generate several different disturbances, mainly vi...