When pets become pests - exotic aquarium fishes and biological invasions in Kerala, India.
One of the major underlying causes for increased biological invasion is the growth and development of world mar�kets' facilitated through globalization, and the booming intercontinental trade of live flora and fauna. The vast majority of recent invasions has been attributed to human activities associated with this international trade, which is accelerating the spread of organisms into new re�gions2'3. Global trade in flora and fauna has led to both repeated introductions of popular exotic species in many systems and has aided in secondary releases through their cultivation4'5. For example, in the United States, 85% of established non-native woody plant species were in�troduced through horticultural trade6, and 26% of non-indigenous freshwater fishes that occur beyond their native range were introduced through the aquarium trade7.
