La fauna ittica d’acqua dolce del Parco Regionale del Matese: stato di conservazione delle specie e indicazioni gestionali

The freshwater fish fauna of the Parco Regionale del Matese, was investigated in spring and summer 2008. The lakes Matese, Gallo and Letino are dominated by alien species. In the lake Matese the environmental conditions and the dense aquatic vegetation permitted the invasive establishment of specie as the Italian pike, Esox cisalpinus, the padany rudd, Scardinius hesperidicus, and the perch Perca fluviatilis. The River Sava and the short stretch of the River Volturno included in the Park, are rich in native species, as Lampetra planeri, Rutilus rubilio, Barbus tyberinus, Gasterosteus gymnurus and Squalius squalus, and three endemic species of the apulo-campano district, Telestes comes, Cobitis zanandreai and Alburnus albidus. The conservation status of fishfauna assemblage either in the Volturno or Sava rivers is quite high and shows a good level of icthyofaunistic native integrity. It is recommended that the good level of the waters of Sava and Volturno, observed also in summer, should be maintained and any abstraction of waters in its upper part, avoided.