Non-native fish of the Upper Irtysh and the Ulungur Rivers in China

The Chinese section of the Irtysh River Basin and the Ulungur River Basin, two major river basins of the Altay region, are located at the northwest of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. As an international river, the Chinese section has seven state-level protected fish and seven local-level protected species as well. Many more commercial species have been introduced from eastern China and other countries, accompanied by some low-value and small-sized fish in recent decades. The non-native fish species have already threatened these protected fish. This study investigated the distribution of non-native fish species in the Chinese section of the Irtysh River Basin and the Ulungur River Basin. The basic data for the biodiversity conservation and the information of the non-native fish in these two river basins were gathered.

There are a lot of studies on native fish in the Chinese section of the Irtysh River Basin and Urungur River Basin in China, but there is a lack of studies on non-native fish. Thirteen non-native fish belonging to four orders, nine families and 12 genera were collected in this study. The study includes one dataset. The dataset presents taxonomy, distribution, water body and location for each of the non-native fish collected from the Chinese section of the Irtysh River Basin and the Ulungur River Basin. Our study has found that the proportion of native species has declined, while the number of non-native species has increased from 2013 to 2022. The information we provided could help to develop an international strategy for the protection of aquatic biodiversity.