Journal of Fish Biology (2002) 61, 298–300 doi:10.1006/jfbi.2002.2042, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on BRIEF COMMUNICATION Occurrence of the Asiatic cyprinid Pseudorasbora parva in England R. E. G*‡, A. C. P*  J. S† *Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Dorset, Winfrith Technology Centre, Winfrith Newburgh, Dorchester, Dorset DT2 8ZD, U.K. and †Environment Agency, Tyneside House, Skinnerburn Road, Newcastle Business Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 7AR, U.K. (Received 3 May 2002, Accepted 17 June 2002) Pseudorasbora parva has demonstrated, in less than four decades, its invasive potential by colonizing much of continental Europe. Established populations of P. parva have now been found in the wild, in large numbers, at several locations across England. At present, only one deliberate introduction is known to have taken place during the mid-1980s at Crampmoor Fisheries, Hampshire.  2002 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Key words: topmouth gudgeon; distribution; non-native; invasive. The topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva (Temminck & Schlegel) is a small cyprinid, originating from Japan, China, Korea and the River Amur catchment. Since its inadvertent introduction into Romanian ponds, neighbouring the lower course of the River Danube in 1960 and its successful reproduction in 1961 (Banarescu, 1964), P. parva has rapidly spread across continental Europe. This species first appeared in the Hungarian part of the River Danube in 1967, followed by its occurrence in Czechoslovakia in 1974 (River Tisa, Danube Basin; Zitman & Holc ˇı ´k, 1976). Later in 1982, it was found in Austria (Weber, 1984) and achieved its pan-Danubian distribution with its colonization of German watercourses (Arnold, 1985). Using the Danube-Rhine Canal and the River Rhine, P. parva was able to disperse into western European watercourses and is now found in Belgium and the Netherlands. During the 1970s P. parva was intentionally introduced to the Sarthe region of France (Allardi & Chancerel, 1988) and to the Skadar lake system of Albania (Knezevic, 1981) where it was intended as food for predatory fishes reared in hatcheries. Later, the Albanian popula- tion colonized the Macedonian, Greek (Bianco, 1988) and possibly also Thracian waters (Erk’akan, 1984). More recently, in the last decade, P. parva has colonized Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan (Arnold, 1990), and Turkey (Wildekamp et al., 1997), as well as reaching Iran (Coad & Abdoli, 1993). In <40 years, P. parva has colonized continental Europe from the east to west and is now present in Africa, i.e. Algeria (Perdices & Doadrio, 1992). Pseudorasbora parva was first discovered in England in an ornamental pond in the Chilterns (Domaniewski & Wheeler, 1996). Since then, other established populations have been found in the wild, in large numbers, at several locations across the country (Fig. 1). The type of introduction (accidental or deliberate) as well as dispersal into different watercourses in England is still unclear but the only introduction known to have taken place, occurred during the mid-1980s at Crampmoor Fisheries, Hampshire ‡Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: +44 (0) 1305 213574; fax: +44 (0) 1305 213600; email: reg@ceh.ac.uk 298 0022–1112/02/070298+03 $35.00/0  2002 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.