E-commerce of freshwater aquarium fishes : potential disseminator of exotic species in Brazil

The availability of freshwater aquarium fish species for sale was surveyed from July 2005 to June 2006 in Brazilian electronic commerce and the Orkut website. São Paulo was the leading state regarding virtual shops, auctions on Arremate/Mercado Livre, and hobbyists on Orkut, with 52, 44 and 46%, respectively. The Southeast and South regions led the offer of pest species such as C. carpio, C. auratus and P. reticulata. Among the 207 species for sale, 14 species considered potential pests were identified, contrasting with only one page that warned about the dangers of aquarium dumping. The easy access to fish (especially the potential pest species) through e-commerce and Orkut, together with the low total price (unitary value + shipping and handling ranging from US$ 17.67 to 30.39), and fast interstate delivery (two-four days on average) confirm the widespread e-commerce accessibility and its high dispersal potential via postal services and home hobbyists trade. It is imperative to enforce the use of warnings or alert messages in e-commerce about the dangers of biological invasions.


Introduction
The growth of the world commerce system, especially electronic commerce (e-commerce) has led to an increase in the number of ornamental plant and animal species introduced into a wide variety of ecosystems (GHERARDI, 2006;PERRINGS et al., 2002;WALTERS et al., 2006).
Many aquarium species, such as fishes, are highly invasive and the ecological impacts associated with these introductions are well documented (CONTRERAS-MACBEATH et al., 1998;DUGGAN et al., 2006;LIANG et al., 2006;RIXON et al., 2005).Because their invasive reputation is largely unknown to the layperson, these species are still extremely popular among professional aquarists and home hobbyists because they are attractive, relatively cheap, and easy to maintain and breed (LIANG et al., 2006).These characteristics also make it easy for shop owners and amateurs to sell their stocks via ecommerce, through virtual shops and auctions (WALTERS et al., 2006), or to discard them later on in natural (creeks, rivers, lakes and oceans) and Acta Scientiarum.Biological Sciences Maringá, v. 32, n. 3, p. 243-248, 2010 artificial (dams, weirs and channels) environments, thus initiating a process of biological invasion (DUGGAN et al., 2006;SEMMENS et al., 2004).
According to Gertzen et al. (2008), the potential impact of internet trade should be investigated along with more traditional avenues of trade in aquarium fishes; therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the relevance of Brazilian e-commerce in general as a mode of dispersal of exotic freshwater aquarium fishes, especially those considered potential pest species by Froese and Pauly (http://www.fishbase.org/).Until now, the importance of this vector had not been appropriately fathomed in Brazil.

Material and methods
The species of aquarium fishes by state (location of virtual shops, auctions and Orkut), total price in US Dollars (unitary value + packing + freight) by region-considering only state capitals, delivery methods, and warnings about the risk of introduction were surveyed in e-commerce and Orkut, from July 2005 to June 2006.The research involved a total of 580 hours of search in the internet, performed by volunteers, all biology students, 20 to 22 years old, each of whom worked during three months.
The volunteers chose their search period and, in each one, they had 48 hours to find sources of freshwater ornamental fishes available via three categories: virtual shops (search by Google: www.google.com.br),auctions on Arremate/Mercado Livre (associated with eBay: http://www.mercadolivre.com.br/) and Orkut (http://www.orkut.com/About.aspx)websites, using standardized keywords.In shops and auctions, keywords ranged from obvious ones such as fish, ornamental fish, aquaria (peixes, peixes ornamentais, peixes de aquário, peixinho-dourado, carpa-nishikigoi, espadinha, plati, molinésia, acará, aquários), to less obvious ones like floriculture and live-bait (floriculturas and iscas-vivas).In Orkut, the range was expanded with words such as guppy, goldfish, betta, cichlids, aquarism (gupi/guppy, kinguio, betta, ciclídeos, ciclídeos africanos, aquarismo, aquários plantados) to less related like reproducers and ornamental ponds (reprodutores, lagos ornamentais).After this procedure, all the sites and communities were accessed by their order of appearance.It was also checked which ornamental species were considered potential pests according to Froese and Pauly (http://www.fishbase.org/).The frequency of citation of pest species was calculated in the 261 sites by region.

Results and discussion
Of the 261 websites found (40 virtual shops, 55 virtual auctions, and 166 aquarism communities on Orkut), the states that have virtual shops selling ornamental fishes, São Paulo has the largest percentage with 52%, followed by Rio de Janeiro with 20% (Figure 1a).Regarding auctions offering ornamental fishes, São Paulo ranked first (44%) followed by Minas Gerais with 20% (Figure 1b), and regarding home hobbyists selling fish on Orkut, once again São Paulo lead (46%), followed by Rio de Janeiro with 23% (Figure 1c).There is extensive interstate transport of aquarium fishes, most of which from São Paulo to the rest of the country.The average delivery time from São Paulo city to any other place is two (for near regions: Southeast and South) to four days (for distant regions: North and Northwest).The delivery means of specimens by virtual shops, auctions and Orkut was usually via postal services (Sedex) and shipping companies (VarigLog, TAM Express, JadLog).
The survey scored 207 aquarium species available for sale within Brazil.Among them, 14 species belonging to seven families are considered potential pests, with total mean prices (unitary value + packing + freight) ranging between US$ 17.67 to 30.39 (Table 1).The Southeast and South regions lead the offer of pest species such as C. carpio, C. auratus, P. reticulata, X. hellerii, and X. maculatus, while the Northern region is the one that least advertises (Table 2).
This confirms the tendency pointed by Whittington and Chong (2007) that, of more than 4,000 freshwater ornamental fishes on sale, poeciliids (guppies, platies, mollies, swordtails) and cyprinids (carps, goldfishes, barbs) are the most popular among aquarists throughout the world.
The data above attests to the risk of imminent aquarium dumping and reinforces the need to regulate e-commerce of exotic organisms.Although there are no studies showing the adverse ecological effects of introduced C. carpio, C. auratus, M. anguillicaudatus, P. latipinna and X. maculatus, the effect of other species is already known.P. reticulata changed the native fish community structure in Cedro stream, São Paulo State (LEMES; GARUTTI, 2002) et al., 1998;COURTENAY JR. et al., 2004;LIANG et al., 2006).The risk that these last four species may be released mainly by amateur aquarists in Brazilian water bodies is real because, according to Duggan et al. (2006), ornamental fishes with exaggerated growth in captivity have costly maintenance, causing the rejection of their owners and the consequent aquarium dumping into the new environments.
Access on e-commerce and Orkut to ornamental exotic fishes, especially the most popular in the hobby and considered potential pests such as the common carp var.Koi, goldfish, guppy, sailfin molly, green swordtail, southern platyfish, variable platyfish, is undemanding.This, together with the relatively low price for the e-consumers, whose income is larger than the national average (US$ 318) (GUASTI, 2006), speedy interstate delivery, and lack of knowledge of the consumers about the concept of 'exotic species', represents a serious threat to Brazilian water bodies regarding non-native introductions by hobbyists.
Although regular (physical) ornamental pet shops in the country were not surveyed, their effect in pest introduction should also be taken into account, because they are easily accessed and species (pests or not) are generally cheaper than those obtained by e-commerce.Consequently, the propagule pressure is still larger, as well as the probability of release of certain species in body waters.
Finally, a better regulation of ornamental fish trade via e-commerce is necessary to attenuate potential internet-assisted invasions.Three measures would be to: 1) instruct Brazilian web administrators like Google and eBay to request warnings from retailers, auctioneers and Orkut about the dangers of aquarium dumping, independently of whether or not the species is considered invasive, 2) post alert messages in the pictures of fishes sold in the sites, indicating those who are pests or potential pests, suggesting the purchase of those who are not, and 3) intensify educational campaigns by virtual shops, auctions and Orkut about the subject of exotic species.

Conclusion
This study showed the potential of e-commerce in spreading freshwater exotic species, including some with a history of invasion, in Brazilian inland waters.Given the novelty and the lack of regulation of live-animals trade via e-commerce, it is realistic to suppose that other commercially appealing nonnative groups, such as saltwater aquarium fishes (red lionfish Pterois volitans), freshwater ornamental invertebrates (apple snail Pomacea spp.), ornamental plants (Brazilian waterweed Egeria densa), nonornamental freshwater fishes considered pests (tilapia Tilapia rendalli, carp Ctenopharyngodon idella, largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides), non-pest aquarium fishes that have caused environmental damages (red piranha Pygocentrus nattereri, oscar Astronotus ocellatus, firemouth cichlid Thorichthys meeki), and the newly available for sale freshwater stingrays Potamotrygon cf.henlei, Potamotrygon hystrix and Potamotrygon motoro are following the same path and will pose similar environmental and public health risks (venomous freshwater stingrays).Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the influence and threats posed by e-commerce and virtual communities selling ornamental exotic fishes, and to foster discussions of further containment measures.

Table 1 .
Exotic fish species sold (US$ 2: dollar exchange rate in 2005/06) through e-commerce considered potential pests according to Froese and Pauly (http://www.fishbase.org/),and their market value in the five Brazilian regions, July 2005-June 2006.T = means and standard deviation of delivery time in days, U = unit value, P = packing, F = freight (from São Paulo city).

Table 2 .
Frequency (%) of citation of pest species in the 261 sites, per region.
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