Abstract
The knowledge of freshwater fishes in remote Andean mountains is scarce and restricted to changes of occurrence distribution along a specific gradient. The high number of endemic fish species requires further studies regarding their biology and their conservation status. The present study aims to estimate the length–weight, length–length, and length–girth relations for nine native freshwater fish species representing five families (Loricariidae, Characidae, Heptapteridae, Crenuchidae, and Parodontidae): Chaetostoma thomsoni Regan, 1904; Lasiancistrus caucanus Eigenmann, 1912; Rineloricaria jubata (Boulenger, 1902); Bryconamericus huilae Román-Valencia, 2003; Gephyrocharax melanocheir Eigenmann, 1912; Pimelodella chagresi (Steindachner, 1876); Rhamdia guatemalensis (Quoy et Gaimard, 1824); Characidium fasciatum Reinhardt, 1867; Parodon suborbitalis Valenciennes, 1850. The fishes were collected in the Suaza River (Huila, Colombia). These are the first length–weight relations reported for all these species, mostly endemic to the Colombian Andes. The report also provides the new maximum size for four species.
Highlights
In fisheries biology, the knowledge of length–weight and exploited species, few LWRs are known relations (LWRs) of fishes is useful: for fish without a prominent commercial interest that use
In determining weight and biomass when only length to be restricted to remote areas (Gaspar et al 2012)
Of fish body is related to the efficiency of gill and trammel our knowledge of the biology of these fishes nets, determining the size of the fish caught by different is very poor
Summary
The allometric coefficient b felt within the expected range of 2.5–3.5 as suggested by Carlander (1969) for fish’s growth and Froese and Pauly (2016) High value of this coefficient for Characidium fasciatum was similar that estimated for the species Characidium zebra Eigenmann, 1909 in other Andean river (Gaspar et al 2012) associated to the tendency to present heavier, compact bodies as they grow (Carlander 1969). The parameters of the LWRs can vary significantly according to sex and season, or due to other factors such as feeding rate, gonad maturity, growth phase, habitat, health and preservation techniques (Hossain et al 2008), all of which were not accounted for in the present study These results will contribute to a better understanding of the poorly known Andean freshwater fishes; and serve as baseline data for species without previous information on length–weight relations and for comparison with future studies of these fishes
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