In the framework of the LIFE + Albufera project, a special effort is made in order to monitor the fish community of the 3 constructed wetlands, a study which extends to other underwater vertebrate fauna, such as water snakes and freshwater turtles (European and leper).
Early results show a notable presence of exotic species, such as sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus), carp (Cyprinus carpio), crucian carp (goldfish), the sapwood (common bleak), the mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) and black bass (Micropterus salmoides). So far, eels (Anguilla anguilla) and mullets (Liza ramada) were the only native species caught. The samples in different environments of each of the constructed wetlands help us understand how the different species spread in the territory.
So while the Tancat de la Pipa shows a high number of eel, especially the water inlet channel of the peripheral channels has a greater diversity and abundance of fish, there are less fish present in the lagoons. It is particularly noteworthy to mention the presence of big specimens of carp and smooth, with eels of all sizes in their channels.
At present, the Tancat de Milia, after lowering the water level of the plots for green filters, has a low complexity of the community, dominated, however, by low numbers of sunfish.
The Tancat de l’Illa, meanwhile, is full of a considerable amount of sunfish, being the species that dominates the rest. However, the diversity of fish obtained here is for the time being substantially higher than in the rest of the constructed wetlands, the only examples of bleaks and black basses have been caught here so far.
These are the first data that invite to think how the depth and structure of vegetation affect the fish community, by comparing the constructed wetlands and betwen different plots of each constructed wetland.
At the same time, they begin to provide very interesting information about how the community of waterfowl is also configured according to this resource, especially in view of reproduction, an event that is coming up soon.
