Browsing by Author "Akoth, Dorothy"

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    The non-Haplochromis fish fauna in Uganda: an update on the distribution and a review of data gaps
    (Research Square, 2022) Akoth, Dorothy; Natugonza, Vianny; Efitre, Jackson; Muyodi, Fredrick Jones; Musinguzi, Laban
    Freshwater fishes are the second most threatened group of vertebrates after amphibians. In most developing countries, the conservation of freshwater fishes is largely hampered by limited information and data. The Red List assessments by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) provide a benchmark for conservation and planning, but these assessments require, inter alia, quantitative information on the species range in the wild. This information is largely missing for many species that face extinction threats. In this paper, we combined species occurrence data, expert knowledge, and literature to review and update the distribution of non-Haplochromis fish species native to Uganda and determine their geographical extent relative to the global range. Results showed that (i) at least 110 non-Haplochromis species occur in Uganda, (ii) the current status in the entire native range for more than 60% of these species is unknown; (iii) five species previously known to occur in Uganda: Amphilius kivuensis, Bagrus degeni, Marcusenius macrolepidotus, Petrocephalus catostoma, and Lacustricola pumilus lack a native locus and hence not Ugandan fishes, (iv) 17 species occur in areas beyond their previously known range, and therefore, their presence needs further investigations, preferably by examining specimen collections, and (v) majority of the non-Haplochromis species native to Uganda have a wide distribution outside the national boundaries. We anticipate this information to be relevant both for the national and global IUCN Red List assessments for the non-Haplochromis fishes in Uganda. Furthermore, the identified data gaps will be relevant in prioritizing limited resources during surveys and collections.