Fish fauna from the Paranapanema River basin, Brazil

Abstract

The Paranapanema River is an important, extensively explored tributary of the Upper Paraná River basin. The fish fauna of the Paranapanema River has been investigated since the 1990s; however, no study has characterized the richness of fish species throughout the basin, including the main channel of the river, marginal lagoons, its tributaries, and sub-tributaries. Thus, we performed a review with 90 independent studies conducted at the upper, middle, and lower sections of the basin. We recorded 225 species, of which 165 were native, and 60 were non-native. We found that 77% of the species within the basin are composed by Siluriformes and Characiformes. Cichliformes had a significant number of non-native species established in impoundment sections of the basin. Incidence-Based Estimators (Bootstrap and Chao 2) demonstrated that the richness of native species is still underestimated. Some native (e.g., Hypostomus ancistroides) and non-native species (e.g., Plagioscion squamosissimus) are widely distributed in the basin, while others had a more restricted distribution. Among the registered species, the family Bryconidae had the highest number of representatives with threatened conservation status. In addition, we observed that the Capivara Reservoir and its tributaries were the most sampled regions, with the majority of studies performed in the Lower Paranapanema basin. The species richness recorded in large tributaries, such as Tibagi, Cinzas, Congonhas, and Pirapó rivers is critical for maintaining the fish fauna in the Paranapanema River. Our contribution may be used to support management actions and conservation strategies, as well as to indicate regions in the basin that need to be better inventoried.

Inventory of the fish fauna from Laranjinha River, Paranapanema River system, Brazil

“…The results presented in this study showed a high diversity of fishes (100 species) among the fish collected in the Laranjinha River. Such results follow the pattern found in the Neotropical regions, showing the dominance of Siluriformes and Characiformes (Agostinho et al 1997, Lowe-McConnell 1999, Jarduli et al 2020. Furthermore, among Paranapanema River tributaries, the number of species is lower if compared to the Tibagi River basin, where 158 species were registered (Lobón-Cerviá & Bennemann 2000, Bennemann et al 2006, 2011, Shibatta & Cheida 2003, Hoffmann et al 2005, Oliveira & Bennemann et al 2005, Jerep et al 2006, Sant'Anna et al 2006, Shibatta et al 2002, 2006a, 2006b, Galves et al 2007, Vieira & Shibatta 2007, Orsi 2010, Raio & Bennemann 2010, Garcia et al 2014, Frantine-Silva et al 2015, Almeida et al 2018, Jerep & Shibatta 2017, Claro-Garcia et al 2018, and to the Cinzas River, with 114 species (Hoffmann et al 2005, Vianna & Nogueira, 2008, Orsi 2010, Bennemann et al 2011, Costa et al 2013, Frantine-Silva et al 2015, Almeida et al 2018.…”

“…The validity of the species was checked using Fricke et al (2019), and the classification was based using Van der Laan et al (2020). The species were identified following Ota et al (2018), Jarduli et al (2020), Terán et al (2020), and in the lack of information about the species from the authors before mentioned, personal communication with specialists took place (i.e., FC Jerep, CDCM de Santana, CAM Oliveira and CH Zawadzki). The riparian vegetation is poorly preserved on both river banks; some upstream rapids, however, a calm water segment prevails until the confluence between Laranjinha and Cinzas Rivers, including a rocky and sandy (primary) substrate; average width of approximately 48m.…”

“…List of species captured along the Laranjinha River (sites A to I, see Figures 1 and 2, and Table 1 for location and characterization), Paraná, Brazil, and their respective catch abundance. ♠ Non-native species, according to, Langeani et al (2007), Júlio-Júnior et al (2009, Ota et al (2018), Jarduli et al (2020) and Orsi personal communication. ♦ Additional species recorded in the basin by Costa et al (2013).…”

“…The basin has more than 310 fish species (Langeani et al 2007), a number currently outdated, considering new records and the recent discovery of new species (e.g. Frota et al 2016, Froehlich et al 2017, Cavalli et al 2018, Ota et al 2018, Jarduli et al 2020. The Paranapanema River, a major tributary of the upper Paraná River, is currently fragmented by several hydroelectric dams (Britto & Carvalho 2006), and therefore, its dam-free tributaries are of great importance for the maintenance of fish species (Hoffmann et al 2005, Silva et al 2017, Galindo et al 2019, Lansac-Tôha et al 2019.…”

“…Fish inventories were carried out in the Paranapanema River tributaries, including the Cinzas, Jaguariaíva and Tibagi rivers (e.g., Shibatta et al 2002, Castro et al 2003, Cetra et al 2012, Cionek et al 2012, Costa et al 2013, Hoffmann et al 2005, Cetra et al 2016, Frantine-Silva et al 2015, Almeida et al 2018, Jerep & Shibatta 2017, Claro-García et al 2018, Frota et al 2020, Jarduli et al 2020. However, a comprehensive checklist of the Laranjinha River ichthyofauna has not been published yet, except for a small streams (e.g., Costa et al 2013), and the scientific knowledge of its fish species remains unknown.…”