Fishes of the Grijalva River basin of Mexico and Guatemala

Abstract

Abstract:The Grijalva River basin is one of the largest hydrological systems in Central America. Despite its importance, an inventory of its ichthyofauna remains incomplete. We provide a systematic checklist of fishes recorded in the Grijalva River basin based on surveys performed from 2002 to 2015. The systematic list includes 92 species, belonging to 13 orders, 25 families and 50 genera, of which 83 species are native and nine are exotics. This checklist includes three range expansions (Profundulus hildebrandi, Poecilia sphenops and Paraneetroplus hartwegi). Fifteen species are endemic to the basin. The most diverse families are Cichlidae and Poeciliidae with 25 and 23 species, respectively. Secondary freshwater fish diversity is high with 65.1%, the remaining species are primary freshwater (13.3%) and peripheral (21.7%) fishes.

Shared and unique patterns of phenotypic diversification along a stream gradient in two congeneric species

“…Gambusia spp. typically do not occur in headwaters4356, and so our study sites were located below the dams at the lower reaches of the Grijalva basin, where the Grijalva interconnects with the Usumacinta Basin through multiple bifurcating distributaries that form an extensive wetland system. The lower Río Grijalva is strongly affected by human activities, and the petroleum industry has probably created the most substantial change44.…”

“…In our present study, we examined patterns of phenotypic (i.e., morphological and life-history) diversification along the river gradient of the southern Mexican Río Grijalva4344. We focused on members of mosquitofishes (genus Gambusia ; Poeciliidae454647), a widespread group of freshwater fishes in Central and North America4546.…”

“…1A,B) and the Yucatan gambusia ( G. yucatana ; Fig. 1C,D)43. Even though both species can reach high local abundances, only few studies reported aspects of their ecology, including trophic ecology515253 and microhabitat preferences53, as well as morphological characteristics within and among species455455.…”

Checklist of the continental fishes of the state of Chiapas, Mexico, and their distribution

“…In addition, we performed an extensive literature review for records of continental fishes of Chiapas. The checklists previously published by Lozano-Vilano and Contreras-Balderas (1987), Rodiles-Hernández (2005), Rodiles-Hernández et al (2005), Espinosa-Pérez et al (2011), and Velázquez-Velázquez et al (2013) were taken as the basis for this work and were supplemented with publications by Lazcano-Barrero and Vogt (1992), Tapia-García et al (1998), Rodiles-Hernández et al (1999), Lozano-Vilano et al (2007) and Gómez-González et al (2012, 2015) who developed lists for particular regions of the state. We also included Castro-Aguirre et al (1999) and Miller et al (2005).…”

“…Velasco-Colín 1976, Lozano-Vilano and Contreras-Balderas 1987, Lazcano-Barrero and Vogt 1992, Tapia-García et al 1998, Rodiles-Hernández et al 1999, Rodiles-Hernández 2005, Rodiles-Hernández et al 2005, 2013, Lozano-Vilano et al 2007, González-Díaz et al 2008, Espinosa-Pérez et al 2011, Velázquez-Velázquez et al 2013, Gómez-González et al 2012, 2015). The first comprehensive publication on continental fishes of Chiapas was made by Velasco-Colín (1976), who reported 74 species distributed across 28 families.…”