Life history and management of the tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum, Characidae): an important Amazonian food fish

Abstract

The genus Colossoma (Characidae) is widely distributed in South America, to which it is confined, and is known from the Orinoco (Mago Leccia, 1970), Amazon (Eigenmann, 1915), Beni-Mamore-Guapore (Pearson, 1937), Parana- Paraguay-Pantanal (Britski, 1977) and La Plata (Ringuelet et aI., 1967) drai- nage systems. The genus has not been adequately revised, but it appears to be represented by only two species in the Amazon Basin. The Amazonian species are much confused in the literature, but easily distinguished upon examination of live or dead specimens.