Tropical Freshwater Fish Ecology

Flashcards about Tropical Freshwater Fish Ecology

Australian Region

Largely secondary and peripheral freshwater fishes, with two families of primary freshwater fishes: relicts Ceratodontidae and Osteoglossidae.

Oriental Region

Separated from the Australian region by Wallace’s line, contains 28 primary FW fish families.

African region

Contains ~2000 species of primary and secondary fishes, including ~300 cyprinids, 190 characiformes, and 360 catfishes.

Neotropical Region

The most diverse freshwater fish fauna in the world, with 32 primary FW fish families.

Neotropical region

Region has Secondary and peripheral freshwater fish

African region

Primary and secondary freshwater fish

Lower pharyngeal jaw

Fused into a single jaw

Lower pharyngeal jaw is held by

Muscular sling from neurocranium to posterior end of jaw

Upper pharyngeal jaw

Articulation with the neurocranium

Gondwanaland distribution (Cichlidae)

A scientific hypothesis stating that the distributional pattern of cichlids suggests they originated when the continents were joined.

Center of diversity of cichlid fishes

East Africa, family with 1,350 to maybe >3,000 species, of which 80% in tribe Haplochromini

Tropical fishes

Minnows, characins, chichlids, catfishes

Algae, plants, grasses, leaves that fall into stream.

What do tropical fishes feed on

Fruit-eating fishes

Occur in all six biogeographic regions and comprise at least 276 species, with the large majority in tropical latitudes.

Seasonal Flooding

the seasonal progression of events for many fishes in large tropical rivers resulting in lateral migration, feeding, and spawning by fishes

Seed dispersal, terrestrial linkage, tree independence, evolution of the use of terrestrial food sources

Why are fruit fish fascinating