Formation of the Fish Population in the Artificial Hydrographic Network of Turkmenistan (the Amudarya River Basin)

Abstract

Fish population in the artificial water bodies of Turkmenistan (the Amudarya River basin) was studied from 1973 to 1991. Since wide-scale irrigation commenced in the republic in the 1950s, the more than 1,000 km long Karakum Canal, its reservoirs, and drainage lakes dramatically changed fauna and ecology of fishes in Turkmenistan. Both the aboriginal and introduced (primarily from the Far East) ichthyofauna are described; a total list includes 44 fish species. Ecological and faunogenetic trends in the formation of the fish population structure, as well as fishing dynamics and fish productivity, are discussed. Morphoecological and developmental anomalies are revealed in fish inhabiting the water bodies which accumulate collection-drainage waters with high content of various agricultural chemicals.