Attività in situ per la conservazione di Cottus gobio (Limnaeus, 1758) e Knipowitschia punctatissima (Canestrini, 1864) nel fiume Sile

In situ conservation actions on Cottus gobio (Linnaeus, 1758) and Knipowitschia punctatissima (Canestrini, 1864) are carried out within the Project LIFE 14/NAT/IT/000809 “SilIFFe”. Only the bullhead is actually inserted within the Habitat Directive Annex II, while the goby K. punctatissima (endemic of the Italian north-eastern district) is enclosed in the IUCN Red List as near threatened (NT). The investigated area is the head of River Sile, inclusive the two tributaries Fosso Corbetta and fountain Munaron, between Piombino Dese (Padua) and Vedelago (Treviso). Our main aim is to provide a biological, environmental, and morphological characterization of all the sites inhabited by both species, and to evaluate the efficacy for reproduction and incubation of 55 artificial substrates (acting also on the natural river bed with few rehashes). Between 2016 and 2018, many reproductive sites were observed for both species within the artificial substrates, showing that they work for the egg protection and as nursery area as well. The incubation time was near 20 days for C. gobio, and 20-25 for K. punctatissima. The latter began the reproductive period in February to October (longer than reported in literature), only partially overlapping to the that of bullhead.