Southern Barbel

  • Scientific name. Barbus meridionalis Bonaparte, 1839
  • Annexes of Birds and Habitats directives listing the area of occupancy of the species. The species is present in annexes II and V of Habitats directive; in this Annex it is indicated as Barbus spp.
  • Size of the population in the project area: Historically in the Parma Province the Southern Barbel was present in the watercourses of Ceno, Taro, Baganza, Parma, Cedra, Stirone and Enza river, with populations of modest entity in 14/14 presence sites (Nonnis Marzano et al, 2003). In particular, the study of the Natura2000 sheets evidenced the presence of the Southern Barbel in 7/14 project areas (50%). At present, populations are strongly declining and in some cases sporadic specimens are found . The situation of the Parma region is similar to that of nearby provinces where in the past the Southern Barbel was present in the upper mountain stretches of the Trebbia, Nure, and Enza rivers, while at the time being some relict populations remain often in sympatry with the brown trout. As already mentioned, some more recent monitoring may be referred to local activities which are not supported by any official projects: the species is censused as “rare” on the basis of semi-quantitative parameters. In the regional fish map the numerical population size of censused populations between the hill and Apennine area evidences demographic data even more alarming than those relating to the Common Barbel. Semi-quantitative estimates indeed list “rare” or “poor” presence in every sampled station; quantitative data referring to the D area indicate estimates fluctuating between 0,001 and 0,003 ind/mq.
  • State of conservation in the project area. The distribution of the species is limited and fragmented and evidences a strong numerical decline at both national and local level (Zerunian, 2002-4; Nonnis Marzano et al., 2003). The Southern Barbel is an endemite of the Po plain and Veneto regions whose distribution is mainly linked to the Apennine and hill areas of central and northern Italy, therefore the last relict populations must be considered at a serious threat of extinction and deserve to be duly protected. The high numerical decline of the populations occurred during the last years in the Emilia Romagna region is mainly due to the water depletion of rivers and their fragmentation derived from the exploitation of the rivers for hydropower generation. Also significant is the effect due to overdense restocking of salmonids.