Abstract
Abstract Mundaú river basin is located at Center-North Ceará State and occupies a total area of 2,227 km2, including Estuário do Rio Mundaú Environmental Protection Area. This study aimed to catalog the fishes of this basin. Collections were performed with active and passive gear in 35 sampling sites, between 2012 and 2014, in several habitats (main channels, streams, floodplains, permanent and temporary pools, ponds, and dams). A total of 2,545 specimens were collected, belonging to 55 species distributed in 10 orders, 31 families, and 50 genera; 30 of these are strictly freshwater species, and 25 estuarine-marine species. Three species (Hemigrammus guyanensis Gery, 1995, H. rodwayi Durbin, 1909 and Poecilia sarrafae Bragança & Costa, 2011) represent new records for the Mid-Northeastern Caatinga ecoregion. Besides, two cynolebiid species, Hypsolebias sp. and Anablepsoides cearensis (Costa & Vono, 2009), were found and the latter, currently classified as critically endangered, had its occurrence area widened.
Highlights
Freshwater ichthyofaunal studies in Brazil are mainly focused on South and Southeastern regions (Langeani et al 2009)
The predominance of the orders Characiformes and Siluriformes in the freshwater ichthyofauna of Mundaú river basin follows the pattern found among freshwater fishes in Brazilian Northeast
Astynax aff. bimaculatus was recorded in 54% of sampling sites, being the most abundant species
Summary
Freshwater ichthyofaunal studies in Brazil are mainly focused on South and Southeastern regions (Langeani et al 2009). While these regions are well documented, the Northeastern region is in need of studies, especially the Mid-Northeastern Caatinga Ecoregion (MNCE) (Rosa et al 2003; Ramos et al 2005). This ecoregion includes coastal basins located between. The estimative of freshwater fish species number at Brazilian Northeast may be premature, given the lack of taxonomic revisions and few representative regional collections (Rosa et al 2003; Langeani et al 2009, Ramos et al 2014)
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