Population dynamics of Prochilodus nigricans (Characiformes: Prochilodontidae) in the Putumayo River

César A Bonilla-Castillo,Fabrice Duponchelle,Edwin Agudelo Córdoba,Guber Gómez

doi:10.1590/1982-0224-20170139

César A Bonilla-Castillo, Fabrice Duponchelle + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-0224-20170139

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Abstract

ABSTRACT The black prochilodus (Prochilodus nigricans) is one of the most landed scaled fish species of the middle and upper parts of the Putumayo River, in the tri-national area between Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Despite its importance, biological information about this species is too scant to guide fisheries management in this portion of the Colombian Amazon. In this study, 10884 individuals were sampled in the fish markets of Puerto Leguízamo between 2009 and 2017. This sampling was used to document reproductive patterns, but also growth and mortality parameters from length frequency distributions. The size at which all fish were mature was 22 cm Ls, which should be the established as the minimum size of capture to ensure that all fish have had a chance to reproduce before being caught. Growth and mortality parameters indicated a slower growth in the Putumayo than in other Amazonian rivers and a relatively high exploitation rate.

Highlights

In the Colombian Amazon, large catfishes have long been considered the most important commercial species for both the international trade with neighbouring countries and the national market (Agudelo et al, 2000; Agudelo et al, 2006)
This paper aims at filling this gap by providing information about the reproduction, growth and mortality patterns of P. nigricans in the Putumayo River, which marks the boundary between the Colombian and Peruvian Amazon
During the period from 2009 to 2017 and out of the > 10000 specimens measured, the maximum observed length for P. nigricans in the upper Putumayo was 34 cm standard length (SL) for a total body mass of 1.02 kg. This is considerably smaller than the 40.5 cm SL and 1.24 kg reported in the Aguarico River (300 m.a.s.l) in the Ecuadorian Amazon (Silva, Stewart, 2017), the 43 cm SL and 2.6 kg observed in the Caquetá River (~ 120 m.a.s.l) in Colombia (BonillaCastillo et al, unpublished data) or the 45 cm and 2.65 kg observed in the middle Mamoré River (~160 m.a.s.l) in the Bolivian Amazon (Loubens, Panfili, 1995), but comparable to the 33 cm SL and 0.9 kg reported in Manacapuru Lake (~30 m.a.s.l, downstream of the Solimões River) in Brazil (Catarino et al, 2014) and 37 cm TL and 650 g in the Ucayali River (~ 150 m.a.s.l, Riofrío, 2002)

Summary

Introduction

In the Colombian Amazon, large catfishes have long been considered the most important commercial species for both the international trade with neighbouring countries and the national market (Agudelo et al, 2000; Agudelo et al, 2006). The bocachico, P. nigricans, is among the most landed species in all major amazonian cities (Gonçalves, Batista, 2008; García et al, 2009; Batista, Isaac, 2012; Doria et al, 2012). This detritivorous species performs extensive breeding and feeding migrations in response to seasonal river fluctuations and occupies a wide variety of habitats in the river basins of the Bolivian, Brazilian, Colombian, Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon (Carolsfeld et al, 2003; González-Cañón et al, 2011). The only one carried out so far suggested a homogeneous population along the Amazon main stem (Machado et al, 2017)

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