Fish fauna from the Languey&amp;uacute; basin, Argentina: a prairie stream in a heavily modified landscape

Andrea Bertora,Juan J Rosso,Fabián Grosman,Pablo Sanzano

doi:10.15560/14.2.461

Abstract

On the Pampa plain, one of the most productive modified areas of Argentina, important changes in land uses have drastically altered the landscape during the last decades. This has led to an increased deterioration of surface waters affecting fish that inhabit them. We provide a list of fish species inhabiting an unsurveyed prairie stream of this region. Environmental variables were measured and fish samplings were conducted in 3 sites of the Langueyú stream. A total of 15 species belonging to 10 families and 6 orders were collected. Characiformes and Siluriformes were the richest orders. Characidae was the most representative family. Species richness was highest when compared with other similar regional environments without connection with the Salado river basin. Most of the fish species collected are typical of the region but others are species which typically do not progress beyond the Salado river basin. The role of human intervention in fish species distribution is discussed.

Highlights

South America hosts the richest freshwater fish fauna in the world, with more than 5,000 species (Reis et al 2003)
We provide a list of fish species inhabiting an unsurveyed prairie stream of this region
Most of the fish species collected are typical of the region but others are species which typically do not progress beyond the Salado river basin

Summary

Introduction

South America hosts the richest freshwater fish fauna in the world, with more than 5,000 species (Reis et al 2003). In Argentina, 548 fish species live in freshwaters, with 17 introduced (Mirande and Koerber 2015, Koerber et al 2017) Despite this great richness, knowledge on the fish fauna inhabiting rivers and streams is still incipient (Casciotta et al 1999, Almirón et al 2000, Paracampo et al 2015). Well before reaching its southern limit, the Neotropical fish fauna already clearly shows a pattern of diversity pauperization southwards (Ringuelet 1975, Gómez 1996). This significant decrease in fish richness is explained by the temperature (by deficit) and dissolved

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