We found that the peak season of boat movements across Switzerland and the goby spawning season overlap temporally. We used invasive gobies in Switzerland as a case study to test the plausibility that recreational boats can serve as vectors for invasive fish and that fish eggs can serve as propagules. For example, recreational boats can carry invasive species propagules as “aquatic hitch‐hikers” within and across water sheds. This spread is to a large extent realized by human activities that provide vectors. Nonetheless, invasive species often spread rapidly across water sheds. Freshwater ecosystems are naturally rather isolated from one another. Non‐native invasive species are a major threat to biodiversity, especially in freshwater ecosystems.
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