The fish fauna of the Jacaré-Guaçu River basin, Upper Paraná River basin

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the fish fauna composition and distribution in different environments, up-and downstream the Gavião Peixoto Dam, in the Jacaré-Guaçu River basin. Most of the sampled ichthyofauna is autochthonous, and the majority of the species belongs to the orders Characiformes and Siluriformes. The order Characiformes comprised most of the specimens caught, Astyanax altiparanae being the most abundant species. All the studied environments were characterized by the massive occurrence of accidental species and low similarity between their ichthyofauna. In general, a greater number of species and higher values of the diversity index were observed downstream of the dam. The fish diversity in the studied habitats was positively correlated with the water body depth, and negatively correlated with the water conductivity. This last correlation may be an indicative of the negative influence of the pollution of the Jacaré-Guaçu basin on the local fish fauna. Resumo: Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a composição e distribuição da ictiofauna em diferentes ambientes, a montante e a jusante da PCH Gavião Peixoto, na bacia do Rio Jacaré-Guaçu. A grande maioria da ictiofauna amostrada é autóctone e pertencente às ordens Characiformes e Siluriformes. A ordem Characiformes foi a que apresentou o maior número de espécimes capturados, sendo Astyanax altiparanae a espécie mais abundante em toda a bacia. Todos os ambientes estudados foram caracterizados pela alta ocorrência de espécies acidentais e apresentaram baixa similaridade entre suas ictiofaunas, principalmente quando comparados os ambientes a jusante com os ambientes a montante do barramento da PCH Gavião Peixoto. No geral, os ambientes a jusante apresentaram maior número de espécies e maiores valores do índice de diversidade. A diversidade de peixes nos ambientes estudados foi positivamente correlacionada com a profundidade do corpo d'água e negativamente correlacionada com a condutividade da água. Esta última correlação pode ser um indicativo da influência negativa da poluição registrada na bacia do Rio Jacaré-Guaçu sobre a ictiofauna local. Palavras-chave: peixes Neotropicais, ecologia de rios, estrutura de comunidade, peixes de água doce, degradação ambiental.

Small-sized fish: the largest and most threatened portion of the megadiverse neotropical freshwater fish fauna

“…Castro & Casatti, 1997;Castro et. al, 2003;Castro et al 2005;Langeani 2007;Apone et al 2008;Esguícero & Arcifa 2011, Casatti et al 2013Fagundes et al 2015). We also cite here that one of the present authors (RMCC) and collaborators (Castro et.…”

Ichthyofauna of the ribeirão Sucuri, tributary of rio Tietê, upper rio Paraná basin, southeastern Brazil

“…Our results agree with other ichthyofaunistic studies in the upper rio Paraná and other Neotropical rivers, which also found a high diversity of these two orders (e.g. Castro et al 2004;Langeani et al 2007;Vari et al 2009;Esguícero and Arcifa 2011;Ohara and Loeb 2016). Indeed, Siluriformes and Characiformes are the most diverse groups of Neotropical freshwater fishes, followed by Gymnotiformes (Lowe-McConnell 1999;Fricke et al 2020).…”

“…The rio Tietê is one of the largest tributaries of the upper Paraná and may be divided into six sub-basins: upper Tietê, Tietê-Jacaré, Piracicaba-Capivari-Jundiaí, Sorocaba-middle Tietê, Tietê-Batalha, and lower Tietê (Ribeiro 2004). Several papers documented the fish diversity throughout this river (Uieda and Barreto 1999; Barrella and Petrere Jr 2003;Giamas et al 2004;Castro et al 2005;Langeani et al 2005;Silva et al 2006;Vidotto and Carvalho 2007;Esguícero and Arcifa 2011;Marceniuk et al 2011;Pazian et al 2011;Smith et al 2014;Serra et al 2015;Yoshida et al 2016).…”

Effects of dredging and macrophyte management on the fish species composition in an old Neotropical reservoir

“…The procedures of dredging and management of macrophytes enhanced the fish diversity and the taxonomic representativeness in the reservoir, increasing the abundance of the Families Characidae (represented by four species) and Curimatidae (represented by two species). This new taxonomic composition in the reservoir is comparable to the fish fauna found in studies in the same area and in other tributaries of the upper Rio Paraná basin (Castro et al, 2003(Castro et al, , 2004(Castro et al, , 2005Langeani et al, 2007;Meschiatti & Arcifa, 2009;Esguícero & Arcifa, 2011). All the data discussed in this study point to a partial recovery of the Rio Jacaré-Guaçu, in the Gavião Peixoto Reservoir area, assuming that a total recovery of the Rio Jacaré-Guaçu is practically impossible, considering all the impact sources already imposed by anthropic actions and the consequent biodiversity loss.…”

“…The specimens were fixed in 10% formalin immediately after their capture, and transferred to 70% ethanol. Specimens were deposited at the Laboratório de Ictiologia de Ribeirão Preto (LIRP) of the Departamento de Biologia da Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil (for information on Voucher specimens see Esguícero & Arcifa, 2011).…”