Fishes in the lower San Pedro Mezquital River, Nayarit, Mexico

By

González-Díaz, Alfonso Angel
Soria-Barreto, Miriam
Martinez-Cardenas, Leonardo
Blanco Y Correa, Manuel

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2015-11-26

Original Publication

Check list : journal of species lists and distribution

Volume

11

Series / Issue

Issue: 6

Pages

1797--7

Subjects

diversity , Freshwater fishes , Introduced fishes , Marismas Nacionales Biosphere Reserve , tropical river

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

[São Paulo, Brazil] Luís Felipe Toledo 2005-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15560/11.6.1797

 

Abstract

The San Pedro Mezquital River is the seventh largest river in Mexico, and flows through the Sierra Madre Occidental into the Marismas Nacionales Biosphere Reserve, on the coast of the state of Nayarit. The present study is to conform a systematic checklist of fishes in the lower basin of the San Pedro Mezquital River. In total, 52 species were collected from 24 families. Four native species were collected (Atherinella crystallina, Poecilia butleri, Poeciliopsis latidens and Poeciliopsis prolifica) that are federally protected. Five of the collected species were new records for the state of Nayarit. This checklist constitutes a first approximation of the fish fauna present in the San Pedro Mezquital River. However, the construction of the Las Cruces dam upstream, will modify the basin hydrology, worsen the introduction of exotic species and create habitat loss, which can have immediate negative impacts on the fish communities in this region.