Ichthyofauna of Trairí river basin, Rio Grande do Norte state, northeastern Brazil: a century after the study of the naturalist Edwin Starks in the Papari lagoon

Abstract

Fishes from the coastal basins of the Mid-Northeastern Caatinga ecoregion (MNCE) were first sampled by the Stanford expedition at the beginning of the 20th century, and published by Edwin C. Starks in 1913. This material included specimens from the Papary lake (= Papari lagoon) in the lower portion of the Trairí river basin, draining towards the eastern coast of Rio Grande do Norte State. In 1941, Henry Fowler provided a broad taxonomic study of the freshwater fishes from northeastern Brazil, including material from the Papari lagoon, besides describing four species assigned to this locality. However, these previous surveys focused only in the lower portion of the Trairí river basin and might be incomplete. Given this framework, the present study aimed at perform a wide ichthyofaunal inventory of Trairí river basin and compared with previously surveys performed in the regions. In 2013 and 2014, four expeditions along the whole basin, including the Papari lagoon itself, resulted in 28 species of fishes belonging to 17 families and seven orders. At Papari lagoon area 16 species were registered whereas 26 and 18 species were recorded by Starks and Fowler’s studies, respectively. Considering all records, 50 species were documented in the basin with 14 (28%) new records, including Serrapinnus potiguar, whose distribution was extended to the south. Two species described by Fowler, Pimelodella papariae and Pseudancistrus papariae, were not found in this study or in any fish collection, and are only known from their type-material. These two species can be naturally rare, locally extinct, or there were inaccuracies in their type-locality. However, species of these genera are only found in larger basins of the MNCE, which drains to the north, corroborating the latter assumption. Although not being a definitive list, the recent extensive fish surveys conducted in the MNCE’s coastal basins are helping to elucidate species’ geographic distribution and little knowing taxonomic issues.

Composition and distribution of fishes from the Perequê-Açu river basin, Paraty, Rio de Janeiro, Southeastern Brazil

“…This result has two reasons: first, it is due to the low representativeness of species that are normally found in the upper and middle reaches of the basin, such as Bryconamericus ornaticeps ( Figure 2C), Rhamdioglanis transfasciatus ( Figure 2F) and Rhamdia quelen (Figure 2E). Second, as it is the lowest part of the basin, closer to the ocean, it houses peripheral freshwater species like Awaous tajasica and Eleotris pisonis (Medeiros et al 2019), rarer in our samples. Mugil liza, a marine species, also contributed to this highest rarity value, being found on only one occasion.…”

Fish fauna from the estuaries of Ceará state, Brazil: a checklist in support of conservation of the Brazilian semiarid coast

“…At least four of these are exploited by the aquarium trade (A. ocellatus, B. splendens, P. reticu lata, and P. sphenops) and one is farmed (O. niloticus) (Leão et al 2011;Brito et al 2013). All five are found in several river basins in the Mid-Northeastern Caatinga, as shown by Rodrigues-Filho et al (2016), Berbel-Filho et al (2018, and Medeiros et al (2019). Poecilia sphenops is reported from the Northeastern Atlantic Forest ecoregion in Sergipe state (Brito et al 2013;, and our data on this species represents the first record of this non-native species in the Mid-Northeastern Caatinga ecoregion.…”

“…Tropical estuaries are rich in biodiversity, especially fishes (Blaber 2000), and there has been an increasing number of inventories published on the fish fauna in northeastern Brazil over the past few decades (Andrade-Tubino et al 2008;Paiva et al 2014;Lira et al 2015;Costa et al 2017;Guimarães-Costa et al 2019;Medeiros et al 2019;Lima et al 2020). Published taxonomic surveys on the fish fauna in estuaries of Ceará state are few in both space and time, and they are often part of grey literature.…”

A Fauna De Peixes Do Rio Tocantins, Bacia Araguaia-Tocantins: Composição, Conservação E Diversidade

“…O que demonstra que a bacia é ainda pouco conhecida ictiologicamente, sendo necessária uma análise mais aprofundada para atualizar as informações sobre a composição e conservação da ictiofauna, mostrando assim, a relevância do presente estudo. COSTA et al, 2017;MEDEIROS et al, 2019;NASCIMENTO et al, 2014;OLIVEIRA-SILVA et al, 2018). Aguiarnópolis.…”