Annotated checklist of the freshwater fishes of continental and insular Costa Rica: additions and nomenclatural revisions

By

Angulo, Arturo
Garita-Alvarado, Carlos A.
Bussing, William A.
López, Myrna I.

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2013-10-1

Original Publication

Check list : journal of species lists and distribution

Volume

9

Series / Issue

Issue: 5

Pages

987--1019

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

[São Paulo, Brazil] Luís Felipe Toledo 2005-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15560/9.5.987

 

Abstract

Based on a combination of intensive literature review, electronic database searches, re-identification of museum specimens and fieldwork, we hereby provide an updated checklist of the freshwater fishes of continental and insular Costa Rica. This checklist, systematically arranged at the ordinal and familial level, includes nomenclatural revisions, distributional information, and when appropriate, cross-references on the basis of Bussing (1998). According to our results, the native Costa Rican freshwater fish fauna is composed by 250 species, divided into 119 genera, 49 families and 19 orders; increasing in 108 the number of species originally reported by Bussing (1998). By far, the vast majority of these species, according to their supposed tolerance to salinity, are peripheral (63.2%), followed by secondary freshwater fishes (23.6%); only 13.2% are primary freshwater fishes. 24 species in this checklist appear to be endemic to Costa Rica. In addition to the native fauna 8 exotic species are reported.