Abstract
Abstract: The Mamanguape River Basin is located in a peripheral semi-arid area of South America, with its headwaters and middle reaches running through the Caatinga (from wetter to drier) and its lower reaches through the Atlantic Forest. The objective of this study was to inventory the fish fauna of the Mamanguape river basin through a comprehensive sampling and to discuss its ichthyofaunal dominance pattern. Sampling was conducted between 2015 and 2016 at 38 points throughout. The main river course was sampled at 18 fixed points during two expeditions (dry and wet seasons) using traw nets, cast nets, and dip nets, with a standardized effort. The tributaries were sampled during the dry season at 20 points using an adaptaptation of the AquaRAP methodology. A total of 32 freshwater fish species belonging to 26 genera, 16 families and six orders were recorded, predominantly from the order Characiformes and the family Characidae. Astyanax fasciatus had widest distribution and greatest abundance in the basin. Siluriformes were the second most prevalent order, with five species recorded. Cichla cf. monoculus, Poecilia reticulata and Oreochromis niloticus were non-native records for the basin. Apareiodon davisi, an Endangered species, was recorded.
Highlights
The greatest diversity of freshwater fish in the world is found in the Neotropics (Albert & Reis 2011), and Brazil contains approximately 43% of this diversity (Buckup et al 2007). Reis et al (2016) report 5,617 described neotropical freshwater fish species
100 species have been described per year, and estimates suggest a total of roughly 9,000 neotropical freshwater fish species (Reis et al 2016)
The pattern of species dominance observed in the main river, which was sampled at fixed points during the wet and dry seasons, was similar to that of the tributaries, which were sampled by AquaRAP during the dry season
Summary
The greatest diversity of freshwater fish in the world is found in the Neotropics (Albert & Reis 2011), and Brazil contains approximately 43% of this diversity (Buckup et al 2007). Reis et al (2016) report 5,617 described neotropical freshwater fish species. There is still a lack of information on the composition and distribution of this fauna in certain regions of Brazil such as the many coastal basins in the Northeast region which is part of the Northeastern Caatinga and Coastal Drainages ecoregion (NCCD, sensu Abell et al 2008). Sampling efforts in these regions are needed to increase the level of knowledge about the composition of these fish fauna and to support an understanding of their historical patterns, as suggested by Langeani et al (2009)
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