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Noel Burkhead

Windsor Aguirre

Misgurnus anguillicaudatus   (Cantor 1842)

Common Name: Oriental weatherfish

Synonyms and Other Names: dojo, weather loach, Japanese weatherfish, Amur weatherfish

Taxonomy: available through

Identification: Eel-like body, brown with greenish grey-brown marble markings dorsally, pale silver ventrum. The mouth is small, narrow and subinferior surrounded by six barbels. The lips are thick and fleshy. Short lateral line, not exceeding the length of the pectoral Has a stout spine on its pectoral fin. Dorsal fin origin is above the pelvic fin origin. There are 9 dorsal rays, 6-7 pelvic rays, and 7-8 anal rays. Distinguishing characteristics were given by Berg (1949), Sterba (1973), Masuda et al. (1984), Page and Burr (1991), and Talwar and Jhingran (1992). The species is included in identification keys provided by Nichols (1943), Berg (1949), Moyle (1976a), Talwar and Jhingran (1992), and Laird and Page (1996). Illustrations or photographs appeared in Nichols (1943), Berg (1949), Masuda et al. (1984), and Axelrod et al. (1985).

Size: 25 cm.

Native Range: Eastern Asia (Berg 1949; Masuda et al. 1984; Talwar and Jhingran 1992).

Interactive maps: Continental US, Hawaii, Puerto Rico

Nonindigenous Occurrences: Specimens were collected from a three-mile reach of the Westminster flood control channel in Orange County, California, in 1968 (St. Amant and Hoover 1969). Additional established populations were discovered upstream from the original collection sites in 1977 and in the adjacent Bolsa Chica Channel in 1979 (Shapovalov et al. 1981). It has also been recorded for Huntington Beach, Orange County, California (e.g., Courtenay et al. 1986; Page and Burr 1991). In Florida, this species has been found in the Little Manatee River drainage, since about 1988 (L. G. Nico, unpublished data); and more recently in other areas in the Peace drainage (Charlotte Harbor NEP 2004); and in the Myakka River in 2003 (Lemon, personal communication). The species was introduced into Hawaii prior to 1900 (Brock 1960); it now occupies primarily stream habitats in Kauai, Maui, and Oahu (Maciolek 1984; Devick 1991a, 1991b). Specimens have been found in the Harton Davis Canal, in an irrigation ditch at Eagle State Park, in the Boise River system, Ada County, Idaho, since the mid 1980s (Courtenay et al. 1988; Idaho Fish and Game 1990). It has been found in the North Shore Channel, Cook County, Lake Michigan drainage, Illinois, since 1987, and in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in 1994 (Page and Laird 1993; Burr et al. 1996; Laird and Page 1996; Thiel, personal communication). Several specimens including YOY were collected near Lacombe, Louisiana, just downstream of a fish farm (K. Piller, pers. comm. 2005).  This species was collected in headwaters of the Shiawassee River, in Oakland and Genesee counties, Michigan, in 1958 and 1959 where it was considered to be established (Schultz 1960). The species has been reported from a diked secondary channel of the Clackamas River, Oregon, since the mid 1980s; it was found in the Malheur, Owyhee, and Snake River systems in 1995 (Logan et al. 1996). Several specimens were also collected in 1997 from Burlington Bottoms near the Multnomah Channel of the Columbia River (N. Bowers, personal communication), and farther downstream from Scappoose Bay on the Columbis River in 1994 (L. Pierce, personal communication; Beaston, personal communication). This species is known from Tennessee where it was collected in a tributary of Coffee Creek, near the Hiwassee River, Polk County, in April 1995 (D. Etnier, personal communication). Present in Lake Washington Lake in Seattle, Washington, since the mid-1990s (K. Aitkin and R. Tabor, personal communication; Tabor et al. 1999). Recently collected in Tulalip Creek, near Marysville, Washington (DeLong 1999).

Ecology: Oriental weatherfish are found in muddy or silty substrates in low-gradient, shallow water, often in aquatic macrophyte beds (Tabor et al. 2001).Their diet is comprised mostly of small benthic invertebrates and detritus; Tabor (2001) found that cladocerans and chironomids were the most frequently ingested prey items collectively. Misgurnus does not forage by sight, but rather, requires chemical stimuli to induce feeding behavior (Watanabe and Hidaka 1983). Weatherfish are capable of using their intestine as an additional respiratory organ, enabling them to live in oxygen-poor waters and to bury themselves in soft substrates in case of long lasting droughts (Ip et al. 2004). Tabor et al (2001) also found that the average length of female oriental weatherfish is considerably larger than that of the males.

Means of Introduction: California populations were apparently descended from individuals that had escaped from a local goldfish farm, possibly as early as the 1930s (St. Amant and Hoover 1969). Similarly, populations in the upper Shiawassee River system, Michigan, were believed to have descended from individuals imported from Kobe, Japan, that had escaped from a nearly aquarium supply company in Oakland County before 1951 and possibly as early as about 1939 (Schultz 1960; Courtenay et al. 1984). In Hawaii, the species was presumably introduced by Asian immigrants during the 1800s, probably to serve as a source of food (Maciolek 1984; Devick 1991b). Brock (1960) stated that its use as bait for fish was apparently instrumental in its spread in Hawaii. Collections in Louisiana were the result of escapes from a fish farm.  Introductions into other states were presumably the result of aquarium releases.

Status: Established in California, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, and Washington, and possibly in Louisiana. Reported from Tennessee.

Impact of Introduction: Unknown.

Remarks: In addition to appearing in the aquarium trade, M. anguillicaudatus has been introduced into several parts of the world for aquaculture purposes and as a bait fish (Welcomme 1988). It is considered a cool-water species (Welcomme 1988); individuals burrow into soft substrates and tolerate low oxygen conditions by breathing atmospheric air (Sterba 1973). As its name suggests, this fish becomes more active in response to changes in barometric pressure; thus it frequently has been cited as a harbinger of storms (Sterba 1973; Axelrod et al. 1985). There is concern that if M. anguillicaudatus becomes more abundant and spreads, it will reduce populations of aquatic insects important as food to native fishes (Page and Laird 1993). Maciolek (1984) categorized Misgurnus along with several other introduced fishes as species having an intermediate impact on Hawaiian streams, this conclusion based on their preferred habitat and diet and on their numbers. The Bolsa Chica Channel, California, cited by Shapovalov et al. (1981), likely represents the Huntington Beach, Orange County site reported by other authors (e.g., Courtenay et al. 1986; Page and Burr 1991).

Voucher specimens: California (CAS 24192, LACM; SIO 68-213, UF 87981); Florida (UF 98633, 98634); Hawaii (BPBM 3624, discarded in 1969); Idaho (UNLV 1951); Illinois (INHS 61129, 61130, 61131); Oregon (OS 13196, 13215, 13216, 15467, 15473, 15474; Portland State University); Tennessee (UT 46.17).

References

Aitkin, K. - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lacey, WA.

Axelrod, H. R., C. W. Emmens, D. Sculthorpe, W. Vorderwinkler, R. Socolof, and N. Pronek. 1967. Exotic tropical fishes. Tropical Fish Hobbyist Publications, Inc., Jersey City, NJ.

Berg, L. S. 1948-1949. Freshwater fishes of the U.S.S.R. and adjacent countries, 4th edition. Three volumes. Translated from Russian, 1962-1965, for the Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation, by Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem, Israel. Volume 1:504 pp.; volume 2:496 pp.; volume 3:510 pp.

Charlotte HarborNEP.  2004.  Minutes of the Technical Advisory Committee, Habitat Conservation Subcommittee.  February 19, 2004, Punta Gorda.

Courtenay, W. R., Jr., D. A. Hensley, J. N. Taylor, and J. A. McCann. 1984. Distribution of exotic fishes in the continental United States. Pages 41-77 in W. R. Courtenay, Jr., and J. R. Stauffer, Jr., editors. Distribution, biology and management of exotic fishes. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.

Courtenay, W. R., Jr., D. A. Hensley, J. N. Taylor, and J. A. McCann. 1986. Distribution of exotic fishes in North America. Pages 675-698 in C. H. Hocutt, and E. O. Wiley, editors. The zoogeography of North American freshwater fishes. John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY.

DeLong, J. 1999. The Great NANFA Loach Hunt of '99.

Devick, W. S. 1991a. Disturbances and fluctuations in the Wahiawa Reservoir ecosystem. Project F-14-R-15, Job 4, Study I. Division of Aquatic Resources, Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources. 21 pp.

Devick, W. S. 1991b. Patterns of introductions of aquatic organisms to Hawaiian freshwater habitats. Pages 189-213 in new directions in research, management and conservation of Hawaiian freshwater stream ecosystems. Proceedings of the 1990 symposium on freshwater stream biology and fisheries management, Division of Aquatic Resources, Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Etnier, D. - University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN.

Idaho Fish and Game. 1990. Fisheries Management Plan 1991-1995. Appendix I. A list of Idaho fishes and their distribution by drainage. Idaho Fish and Game.

Ip, Y. K., S. F. Chew, and D. J. Randall. 2004. Five tropical air-breathing fishes, six different strategies to defend against ammonia toxicity on land. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, 77(5):768-782.

Laird, C. A., and L. M. Page. 1996. Non-native fishes inhabiting the streams and lakes of Illinois. Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 35(1):1-51.

Logan, D. - Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR.

Maciolek, J. A. 1984. Exotic fishes in Hawaii and other islands of Oceania. Pages 131-161 in W. R. Courtenay, Jr., and J. R. Stauffer, Jr., editors. Distribution, biology, and management of exotic fishes. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.

Masuda, H., K. Amaoka, C. Araga, T. Uyeno, and T. Yoshino, editors. 1984. The fishes of the Japanese Archipelago. Tokai University Press. Text: i-xxii + 437 pp.; atlas: pls. 1-370.

Moyle, P. B. 1976a. Inland fishes of California. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

Nichols, J. T. 1943. The freshwater fishes of China. Natural history of Central Asia volume IX. The American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY.

Page, L. M., and B. M. Burr. 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. The Peterson Field Guide Series, volume 42. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA.

Page, L. M., and C. A. Laird. 1993. The identification of the nonnative fishes inhabiting Illinois waters. Report prepared by Center for Biodiversity, Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, for Illinois Department of Conservation, Springfield. Center for Biodiversity Technical Report 1993(4). 39 pp.

Pierce, L. - Scappoose Watershed Council, Warren, Oregon.

Schultz, E. E. 1960. Establishment and early dispersal of a loach, Misgurnus anguillicaudatus (Cantor), in Michigan. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 89(4):376-377.

Shapovalov, L., A. J. Cordone, and W. A. Dill. 1981. A list of freshwater and anadromous fishes of California. California Fish and Game 67(1):4-38.

St. Amant, J. A., and F. G. Hoover. 1969. Addition of Misgurnus anguillicaudatus (Cantor) to the California fauna. California Fish and Game 57(2):330-331.

Sterba, G. 1973. Freshwater fishes of the world. English translation and revision from German. Two volumes. Tropical Fish Hobbyist Publications, Inc., Neptune City, NJ.

Tabor, R. - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lacey, WA.

Tabor, R., E. Warner, and S. Hager. 1999. Oriental weatherfish (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) population established in Washington. submitted to Northwest Science.

Talwar, P. K., and A. G. Jhingran, editors. 1992. Inland fishes of India and adjacent countries. A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Two volumes.

Watanabe, K and T Hidaka. 1983. Feeding behavior of the Japanese loach, Misgurnus anguillicaudatus (Cobitididae). Journal of Ethology, 1(1-2): 86-90.

Other Resources:

Misgurnus anguillicaudatus factsheet - Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission

Oriental Weather Loach introduced to Australia - Australian Museum

The Great NANFA Loach Hunt of 1999!

Oriental Weatherfish in Idaho

Oriental Weatherfish in Florida

An Oriental weatherfish population established in Washington State

Author: Leo Nico and Pam Fuller

Contributing Agencies:
NOAA - GLERL

Revision Date: 4/19/2006

Citation for this information:
Leo Nico and Pam Fuller. 2009. Misgurnus anguillicaudatus. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL.
<http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=498> Revision Date: 4/19/2006

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U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey Page Contact Information: Pam Fuller - NAS Program URL: <http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=498> This File (/queries/FactSheet.asp) Last Modified On: 8/11/2008 1:36:47 PM