Fish species found in the lakes, ponds and dams of Sinop, province Turkey

This study was carried out between September 2008 and June 2009 in order to discover the fish species found in the lakes, ponds, and dams of Sinop Province.The research area primarily covers the Sinop provincial centre and some of its counties such as Ayancık, Boyabat, Durağan, Erfelek and Saraydüzü. Among 21 wetland areas examined for the study are 1 natural lake, 2 dams and 18 irrigational ponds.Based on the sampling activities, which was done by using multi-filament trammel nets, scoop nets and cast nets, 14 wetland areas were identified as having some sort of fish species while 6 ponds and 1 dam did not have any species.As a result of the sampling, 11 species belonging to Cyprinidae family, 3 species belonging to Mugilidae family, 2 species belonging to Gobiidae family, and only 1 species belonging to each of Cyprinodontidae, Gasterosteidae, Percidae, Siluridae, Atherinidae, and Pleuronectidae families were determined.The fish species discovered in the area of the study are Cyprinus carpio found in 13 different places, Squalius cephalus found in 4 different places, Capoeta capoeta found in 4 different places, Carassius carassius found in 3 different places and Alburnoides bipunctatus found in 3 different places.In terms of the number of fish species found in a particular wetland area, Altınkaya Dam had 11, Sarıkum Lake had 9, Nisi Pond had 6 and Bektaşağa Pond had 4 different fish species.One of the most noteworthy findings of the study is the discovery of an invader type of fish species in Akgöl Pond; that is, Pseudorasbora parva.Key Words: Freshwater fish species, Sinop Province, lake, pond, dam.