Abstract
South American galaxiids occupy both Patagonia and the ichthyogeographic Chilean Province, encompassing glacial Andean deep lakes, shallow plateau lakes, reservoirs, short Pacific rivers and long Atlantic rivers. The total fish fauna includes 29 species, comprising Neotropical fishes (siluriforms and characids), galaxiids, percichthyids, atherinopsids and mugilids, two lamprey species, and several exotic fishes (salmonids, Gambusia spp. and common carp). The family Galaxiidae shares a common ancestry with the Gondwanan temperate fish fauna, played a major role in the post-glacial colonization of Andean lakes and streams, and contributes key species to the food webs. Galaxiid species occupy an enormous latitudinal gradient, show a wide variety of life history patterns and are the southernmost native freshwater fishes of the world. Knowledge of South American galaxiids has improved notably, but new challenges arise due to climate change, biological invasions, damming, aquaculture and contamination. In this changing environment, the future of South American galaxiids should be carefully considered as a legacy of the old Gondwana and a unique attribute of the freshwaters of southern South America.
Highlights
South American galaxiid fishes occupy most of Patagonia [1] and the south of the icthyogeographicChilean Province [2], between 33◦ 08’ S and 55◦ 35’ S, on both sides of the Andean Range [3,4] (Figure 1,Table S1)
Based on the analyses of Sr: Ca ratios in otoliths, a diadromous life history was suggested for populations of A. taeniatus, A. marinus and G. maculatus
G. platei and diadromous G. maculatus populations at the southernmost limit of their distribution are likely to be influenced by indirect consequences of climate change rather than thermal lethality, since they inhabit environments that are largely cooler than their maximum thermal tolerance
Summary
South American galaxiid fishes occupy most of Patagonia [1] and the south of the icthyogeographic. As well as being the world’s southernmost native freshwater fishes [17], galaxiid species occupy an enormous latitudinal gradient and show a varied range of different life history patterns [18,19], Diversity 2020, 12, 178 presenting a unique opportunity for the study of local adaptation. Created a new framework, which even today is still in constant change due to a number of anthropic actions In this new paradigm, galaxiids have remained as the main forage fishes for native and exotic predators. Galaxiids have remained as the main forage fishes for native and exotic predators In this scenario, the present work reviews information on the distribution, physiology and life histories of galaxiids in South America, including the variation in life history characters of their different populations
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