The River Odra estuary – another Baltic Sea area colonized by the round goby Neogobius melanostomus Pallas, 1811

Abstract

The round goby (Neogobius melanostomus Pallas, 1811) has been present, since the 1990s, in the Gulf of Gdansk where it forms a strong population and where the species is locally the most important fish in shallow inshore areas. No similarly large, independent round goby population in the Baltic Sea area has been found beyond the Gulf of Gdansk and the adjacent Vistula Lagoon. As shown by the research carried out in 2009, the round goby is abundant also in the River Odra estuary, which may provide evidence of the presence of a local, reproducing population.