Historical and Environmental Distribution of Ichthyofauna in the Tropical Wetland of Pantanos de Centla, Southern Gulf of Mexico

Macrofaunistic Diversity in Vallisneria americana Michx. in a Tropical Wetland, Southern Gulf of Mexico

“…Only the cirripedian Balanus improvisus Darwin, 1854, a stenohaline macrocrustacean distributed in polyhaline and marine environments and was reported with a distribution restricted to the area with marine influence (Montalvo-Urgel et al, 2010), where Polo Bank is located. Moreover, there were no estuarine species and only two marine fish species (Anchoa parva and Gobionellus oceanicus) among the 30 collected in SAV in this study, as well as among the 12 estuarine and marine species previously recorded for the BRPC (Macossay et al, 2011). Also, the macrofauna collected from V. americana in the area that receives the effect of the tides differs markedly from that recorded for oligo-mesohaline environments in other coastal wetlands Domínguez et al, 2003).…”

“…The high number of species associated with V. americana that was recorded in this study and other studies carried out in the BRPC (Mendoza-Carranza et al, 2010;Macossay et al, 2011;Sánchez et al, 2012) emphasizes the importance of the V. americana patches, that occupy less than 1% of the substrate of the permanent aquatic ecosystems (Sánchez et al, 2007). Among the molluscs that were collected, most of the species of the Hydrobiidae family are recorded as herbivorous (Hershler & Thompson, 1992) and Neritina reclivata is a microphage with a distribution associated with SAV (as examples, García-Cubas et al, 1990;Lane, 1991).…”

“…This may be because only Paraneetroplus synspilus and Cichlasoma pearsei are herbivores, while the other species are carnivores or omnivores (Schmitter-Soto, 1998;Miller et al, 2005;Froese & Pauly, 2011). The smaller number of species of the family Poeciliidae collected in this study, in comparison with Macossay et al (2011), is related to most of the species inhabiting MV and feeding mainly on insect larvae (Schmitter-Soto, 1998;Miller et al, 2005), which is not the case of the omnivore Poecilia mexicana. The batracoid Opsanus beta was the only species associated exclusively with SAV in Pantanos de Centla and seagrasses in other ecosystems (Schofield, 2003;Vega-Cendejas, 2004).…”

“…The record of 53 species of macrofauna associated with SAV in this study was greater than those published for other similar ecosystems with structured habitats (Vega-Cendejas, 2004;Bogut et al, 2007;Quiroz et al, 2007). One species, the omnivorous fish Microdesmus longipinnis, was not recorded previously by Reséndez and Salvadores (2000), Mendoza-Carranza et al (2010), Macossay et al (2011.…”

“…Most of the 12 cichlids collected in SAV in this study were not associated with any particular habitat (Miller et al, 2005;Macossay et al, 2011). This may be because only Paraneetroplus synspilus and Cichlasoma pearsei are herbivores, while the other species are carnivores or omnivores (Schmitter-Soto, 1998;Miller et al, 2005;Froese & Pauly, 2011).…”