Developing YY Males to Control Nuisance Fish Populations in the Southwest

Authors: Chad Teal, Scott Bonar, Dan Schill

Year: 2018

Abstract

Competition and predation from nonnative fishes have had a substantial impact on native fish species in the Southwestern United States. Nonnative fish introductions have been implicated in nearly 50% of endangered species listings, second only to habitat loss. The Red Shiner (Cyprinella lutrensis) has been shown to compete with native cyprinids and other small bodied species. Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus) are generalists that compete with more desirable game species and prey upon native fishes. Traditional removal efforts are usually not species specific and these efforts are rarely 100% effective. Trojan sex chromosome eradication strategies have been modeled and show the collapse of target species’ populations. Efforts have begun at the University of Arizona to examine the feasibility of producing Trojan sex chromosome carrier (YY male or supermale) Red Shiner and Green Sunfish. To date, breeding and larval rearing techniques have been developed at the University of Arizona Propagation Lab. Sex reversal methods and genetic marker development have also begun. The development of trojan sex chromosome carriers (YY males) for common nuisance fish species could be useful for fisheries management.