The influence of a large reservoir on the reproductive activity of the white piranha, Serrasalmus brandtii (Lütken, 1875) in Southeast Brazil

Abstract

The influence of a large reservoir on the reproductive activity of the white piranha, Serrasalmus brandtii (Lütken, 1875) in Southeast Brazil. Biota Neotropica. 19(2): e20180580. http://dx. Abstract:In order to assess the influence of the Três Marias dam on the reproduction of the white piranha, Serrasalmus brandtii, 1569 specimens captured from June 2011 to May 2012 in three sections of the São Francisco River basin were analyzed: section 1 = Três Marias reservoir (TMR); section 2 = São Francisco River (SFR) segment immediately downstream of TMR; and section 3 = SFR segment at the confluence with the Abaeté River. Total length (TL), body weight (BW), gonadosomatic index (GSI), and gonadal maturation stages were determined for each specimen, while vitellogenic follicle diameter, and absolute (AF) and relative (RF) fecundities were also determined for females. Reproductive activity, including spawned females and spermed males, was recorded throughout the year in the three river segments. Higher frequencies of females and males at the maturing/mature stage were found in the November/December and January/February, which coincided with the period of higher temperature, rainfall, and dissolved oxygen concentration. Mean GSI and vitellogenic follicle diameter were higher in sections 1 and 3 than in section 2 (P <0.05), while AF and RF were higher in section 1 (P <0.05) than in sections 2 and 3. The results of the present study showed that S. brandtii had lower reproductive performance in section 2, probably due to thermal disturbances caused by the dam, thus confirming the influence of dams on the reproduction of fish downstream from hydroelectric plant reservoirs. A influência de um grande reservatório na atividade reprodutiva da piranha branca, Serrasalmus brandtii (Lütken, 1875) no sudeste do BrasilResumo: Com o objetivo de avaliar a influência da barragem de Três Marias na reprodução da piranha branca, Serrasalmus brandtii, foram analisados 1569 exemplares capturados de junho de 2011 a maio de 2012 em três trechos da bacia do rio São Francisco: seção 1 = reservatório de Três Marias (RTM); seção 2 = segmento do rio São Francisco (SRF) imediatamente a jusante do RTM; e seção 3 = segmento RSF na confluência com o rio Abaeté. O comprimento total (CT), peso corpóreo (PC), índice de gonadossomático (IGS) e estágio de maturação gonadal foram determinados para cada amostra, enquanto o diâmetro do folículo vitelogênico, fecundidade absoluta (FA) e relativa (FR) foram determinadas para fêmeas. Nas três seções estudadas, a atividade reprodutiva foi registrada ao longo do ano, incluindo fêmeas desovadas e machos espermiados. Maiores frequências de fêmeas e machos na fase de maturação/maduro foram encontradas nos meses de novembro/dezembro e janeiro/fevereiro, coincidindo com o período de maior temperatura, precipitação e concentração de oxigênio dissolvido. O IGS médio e o diâmetro do folículo vitelogênico foram maiores nas seções 1 e 3 do que na seção 2 (P <0,05), enquanto FA e FR foram maiores na seção 1 (P <0,05) do que nas...

Impact of a large dam on reproduction of a non-migratory teleost species, Acestrorhynchus lacustris (Characiformes: Acestrorhynchidae)

“…However, unlike migratory and forage fishes, A. lacustris maintained the reproductive activity, even with different performance, in both sections analysed in São Francisco River. Similar to our results, the impacts in aquatic organisms due to the release of colder water, with low concentration of dissolved oxygen, were also detected in others dammed rivers, such as: Serrasalmus brandtii from São Francisco River, Brazil (Bazzoli et al, 2019); aquatic invertebrate community from South African Rivers (Mantel et al, 2010); and other several fish species in USA rivers (Graf, 2006;Donaldson et al, 2008).…”

“…Similar to our data, the absence of the resting and fully spent males was also noted in a lentic environment (Bazzoli and Godinho, 1991), which may be indicative of a fast gonad recovery (recrudescence period) in dogfish males (Rinchard and Kestemont, 1996). In females of A. lacustris, four diameter classes of vitellogenic follicle were observed, indicating an asynchronous folliculogenesis and corroborating with observations in other non-migratory teleost (Armstrong and Witthames, 2012;Bazzoli et al, 2019;Melo et al, 2011). Fish with these characteristics generally have greater biological plasticity, greater tolerance to variations in the environmental conditions when compared to fish with seasonal reproductive activity, such as the migratory species (Campos-Mendoza et al, 2004;Godinho et al, 2009;Sato et al, 2005;Thomé et al, 2012).…”

“…The highest growth of the ovaries and testicles of fish from section 2 is similar to that observed for migratory species in the same study area (Sato et al, 2005;Arantes et al, 2010;Weber et al, 2013). Furthermore, in females was observed lower size in the vitellogenic follicle diameter of fish caught in section 1, corroborating that observed by Sato et al (2005) and Arantes et al (2010) in a total spawning Neotropical species; Normando et al (2014) in non-migratory forage species; and Bazzoli et al (2019) in others non-migratory species. The vitellogenic follicle diameter is reported as an important parameter related to reproductive fitness because larger follicles produce offspring with more energy reserves (Kinnison et al, 1998;Kolm and Ahnesjö, 2005;Lubzens et al, 2010).…”

“…Despite the fact that most studies are conducted with migratory fish, there are few studies on Neotropical rivers that have assessed the effects of dams on the reproduction of resident or non-migratory fish (Bazzoli et al, 2019;Donaldson et al, 2008). The Acestrorhynchus lacustris (Lütken, 1875), popularly known as dogfish, is a nonmigratory species, inhabiting the Paraná and São Francisco Rivers basins, two important South American basins.…”

Morphological analysis of the reproductive activity of Curimatella lepidura (Characiformes: Curimatidae)

“…Hydrological and thermal alterations affect fish reproduction, including species that depend on lotic environments for spawning (Abdo et al, 2018; Brandão et al, 2017). Further downstream, after the confluence with a medium‐sized tributary (Abaéte River, section 3), the SFR has better conditions in terms of water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and flow rate, which favourably influence reproduction (Bazzoli et al, 2019; Nascimento et al, 2020).…”