Fishes of Alto Jacuí sub-basin: a poorly studied sub-basin of northwestern Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Karine O Bonato,Clarice B Fialho

doi:10.15560/12.2.1867

Abstract

The streams in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (mainly in the Alto Jacuí sub-basin belonging to the Laguna dos Patos system) have scarce information about their ichthyofauna. Thereby for providing information about stream species, the purpose of the present study was to inventory the ichthyofauna of the streams of the Alto Jacuí sub-basin, located in northwestern state of Rio Grande do Sul. The samples were taken bimonthly from June 2012 to June 2013 using electrofishing technique in 10 streams. A total of 13,247 specimens were collected belonging to 42 species, 10 families and six orders. We report the occurrence of five new species that have not yet been described by researchers.

Highlights

Fish are considered the most diverse group of vertebrates (Lowe-MacConnell 1999), with an estimated richness of 32,900 species (Froese and Pauly 2014)
According to Bonato and Ferrer (2013), the individuals of Phalloceros spiloura Lucinda, 2008 collected in the Alto Jacuí subbasin during the present study represent the first record of this species to the Laguna dos Patos system
Inventories are important in extending the distributional range of some species, such as Phalloceros spiloura that was previously only known from the coastal drainages of states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, Iguaçu and Uruguay river basins, and as part of this study, was found in the Alto Jacuí sub-basin representing a new record for the Laguna dos Patos system (Bonato and Ferrer 2013)

Summary

Introduction

Fish are considered the most diverse group of vertebrates (Lowe-MacConnell 1999), with an estimated richness of 32,900 species (Froese and Pauly 2014). The small size of streams and headwater environments makes these places more susceptible to anthropogenic action and they may experience significant change in their population structure, leading to the disappearance of the most sensitive species (Galves et al 2009). This situation makes it difficult to understand ecological, biological and biogeographical processes (Barletta et al 2010)

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