Morphological correlates of diet were examined in 48 species of freshwater fishes from floodplain lakes in the central part of the Mamore´River (Bolivian Amazon). The species were classified, according to the percentage occurrence of seven food items, into eight broad trophic categories: mud feeders, algivores, herbivores, terrestrial invertivores and omnivores, carnivores, zooplanktivores, aquatic invertivores and piscivores. There were significant relationships between the diet and morphology of the fishes even when the effect of taxonomical relatedness between species was eliminated. Relative gut length was the main morphological variable used to order species on a carnivore to mud feeder gradient. Standard length and head and mouth size were the morphological variables most closely associated with prey size. Mud feeder, algivore and piscivore species appeared as the most dietary and morphologically specialized. These results support both the hypotheses that species morphology influences the diet and that morphological similarity is conserved even in comparison with taxonomically unrelated species.

Life-history traits of Pygocentrus nattereri were compared in two populations inhabiting connected tributaries of the upper Madera River: the white water Mamor e River and the clear water It enez River. As white waters provide better trophic conditions than clear waters, the size at maturity, fecundity, reproductive effort, condition and growth of P. nattereri should be greater in the more productive white water river (Mamor e) than in the less-productive clear water river (It enez). Breeding periods were highly seasonal and similar in both rivers and under strong influence of photoperiod. Oocyte size-frequency distributions, together with the frequent occurrence of recovering females indicated that an individual female spawns at least twice during the breeding season. As predicted, fish of the Mamor e were significantly larger at maturity and had higher fecundity and condition factor values than those of the It enez. Fish from both rivers matured as yearlings. The higher growth potential of females was better expressed in the Mamor e than in the It enez, where growth differences between sexes were weak. Females had a significantly better growth in the Mamor e than in the It enez. The observed life-history traits associations were consistent with the hypothesis of better trophic conditions in the Mamor e. In addition, previous genetic analyses evidenced that the colonization of the two basins is recent and that extant populations have very similar genetic backgrounds. This suggests that the observed variations in life-history traits of P. nattereri are not related to historical factors (genetic drift) between two phylogeographically distinct lineages, but rather due to the contrasting environmental conditions in the white and clear waters.

No abstract