Overview
- Local group Fischerzunft Bischberg recently released about 200 European mudminnows into selected oxbows and backwaters of the Main near Bischberg.
- Further releases are planned over the next two years to assess whether a self-sustaining population can take hold at the site.
- An earlier LfU-led effort stocked 4,500 fish in the Donaugraben in 2021, but 2023 checks found mostly the invasive North Chinese mudminnow, with final verification of displacement still pending.
- Officials cite decades of drainage, channelization and habitat loss as key reasons for the fish’s decline, driving renaturation work that reconnects oxbows and ditch systems.
- The species tolerates warm, low‑oxygen waters, breathes partly via the intestine and can burrow deeply in mud, traits that guide site selection for reintroduction.