Durante la scorsa settimana ricercatori e guardaparco coinvolti nel progetto BIOAQUAE hanno svolto i primi monitoraggi per la verifica del successo delle operazioni di conservazione ex-situ della tota marmorata. I monitoraggi hanno dato i risultati tanto sperati e tanto attesi: nei torrenti dove l'anno scorso erano state seminate (cioè rilasciate in gergo ittiologico) le trote marmorate sono stati ritrovati numerosi individui. Avannotti e trotelle di marmorata, allevati nell'incubatoio di Ghiglieri, erano stati immessi nell'estate e nell'autunno dell'anno scorso in torrenti liberati dalla presenza di trota fario e hanno trascorso in natura il primo, delicato, inverno. Il ritrovamento di numerose trotelle in ottime condizioni ha riempito di soddisfazione tutti gli operatori. Questi primi risultati fanno ben sperare nel proseguimento delle azioni di conservazione di questa delicata specie.

Intanto all'incubatoio sono inziati l'allevamento e i rilasci dei nuovi avannotti nati quest'anno.

...e, vista la giornata... speriamo siano femmine!

Un momento dei rilasci di avannotti durante la scorsa stagione

The conservation actions for the marble trout included the search for reproductively active specimens, which were captured in the wild and then released to obtain eggs for the Piantonetto incubator. During the search for suitable specimens, the scientific service researchers and the surveillance personnel of the Park discovered a site of the utmost importance for the marble trout: the Vallone del Roc. This is where they found "pure" specimens of marble trout, i.e., fish with no signs of cross-breeding with the brown trout, which is one of the most severe threats to the conservation of the species. Next spring, a trail through this area of the Park will be fitted out with panels illustrating the problems addressed and the initiatives undertaken for the conservation of this species of salmonids.

Click here to download the panels arranged along the Roc trait  or to look for others panels 

It's winter, in the Park, the high altitude lakes are frozen and covered with a thick layer of snow. The aquatic ecosystems seem to be at rest… But the BIOAQUAE project does not stop! Right now, in the incubator in Valle di Ghiglieri (Vallone di Piantonetto) the hatching of the fish eggs produced within the framework of the marble trout preservation program is nearing completion. This is now the second season  of reproduction for this endangered salmonid and the results obtained so far are very encouraging.

In late autumn, the eggs were squeezed out from a number of marble trout  specimens and placed in the incubator to develop. A few days ago, the eggs began to hatch and the rearing tanks were soon populated with thousands of tiny fish.

For a few days after the hatching of the eggs, the baby fish are self-sufficient, in that they get their nourishment from their yolk-sacs, a bag shaped structure which is part of the embryo and gradually disappears as the fish grow (it can be clearly seen in the photo below). Once the yolk-sac has been absorbed, a very demanding and delicate stage begins, as the Park staff has to feed the juveniles and monitor their growth.

In a few weeks' time,  measuring activities will also get underway to assess the survival and conditions of the juveniles and the young trout released into the torrents a year ago.

While waiting for the thaw, the activities of the BIOAQUAE project for the conservation of aquatic ecosystems go on!