Survey of fish species from the lower Roosevelt River, Southwestern Amazon basin

Abstract

This study presents an inventory of the ichthyofauna of the lower Roosevelt River sub-basin and its associated tributaries. Fish sampling with fishing nets and measurements of environmental parameters of water occurred in November/2012 (rising water), February/2013 (flooding), May/2013 (falling water) and August/2013 (drought). Depth mean was 8.86 m, water transparency was 0.6 m, conductivity was 22.7 μS.cm-1, pH was 6.59, dissolved oxygen was 7.63 mg.l-1 and temperature was 28°C. The total estimated capture area was 68,829.6 m2 during 2,880 hours. The catch per unit Effort (CPUE) was 0.37 individuals m-2.day-1. Species were spatially aggregated in all sampling points and river water levels. A total of 5,183 individuals distributed in 7 orders, 29 families, 104 genders and 188 species were sampled in this survey. The diversity index was 4.121 and equitability index was 0.789. The Characiforms order was the most abundant with 106 species, followed by Siluriforms with 63 species and Cichliforms with 23 species. The most abundant species was Serrasalmus rhombeus (Linnaeus, 1766) with 327 individuals (5.9%), followed by Chalceus epakros (Cope, 1870) with 309 individuals (5.6%) and Acestrorhynchus microlepis (Schomburgk, 1841) with 250 individuals (4.5%). Trophicity was characterized by omnivorous (28.6%), piscivorous (14.3%), carnivorous (13.8%) and detritivorous (12.8%). According to IBAMA’s regulation, 29.25% of captured species presents ornamental potential.