Abstract

BEJARANO, IVONNE; BLANCO, MARÍA DEL PILAR  and  MOJICA, JOSÉ IVÁN. The Fish Community of Mesay River during high level water period (Caquetá, Colombian Amazon). Caldasia [online]. 2006, vol.28, n.2, pp.359-370. ISSN 0366-5232.

The composition, distribution and structure of the fish community of Mesay River and two associated biotopes (lakes and streams) were studied during high level water. During July through September 2000, weekly surveys were done in five stations representative of the Puerto Abeja area. A total of 79 species belonging to four Orders and 16 families were captured by using gill nets, dip nets, hand lines, and rod and reel. 23 of the species surveyed are new registers for the Colombian Amazonic region. Although only the flooding period was sampled, species richness was still observed to be high. No spatial distribution pattern was observed between habitats. Larger sized fish species were most abundant in those stations possessing a larger flooded plain, while smaller sized fish species preferred lenthic habitats. Although fish richness was high, diversity was low possibly because of the strong dominance of few species and the elevated number of rare or infrequent species.

Keywords : Amazon; Chiribiquete; Colombia; Fish; Mesay.

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