09/18/2025
Wow๐๐
๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, a new species of annual killifish / cloud fish, is described from the Rio Riacho basin floodplains, between northern Espรญrito Santo and southern Bahia, within the larger Atlantic Forest biome, southeastern Brazil. Together with the new species description, the authors discuss the habitats and provide a conservation assessment for the (now) five species of ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ killifishes inhabiting these remarkable riparian wetlands.
Open-access - https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/17/9/644
๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ง๐ถ๐๐น๐ฒ
Habitat and Conservation Assessment of Annual Killifishes of the Genus ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ (Rivulidae: Cynolebiinae) from Coastal Floodplains, Including the First Record South of the Rio Doce, Southeastern Brazil
๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
Gomes, B. P., Sarmento-Soares, L. M., Martins-Pinheiro, R. F., & Leite, G. R. (2025). Habitat and Conservation Assessment of Annual Killifishes of the Genus ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ (Rivulidae: Cynolebiinae) from Coastal Floodplains, Including the First Record South of the Rio Doce, Southeastern Brazil. Diversity, 17(9), 644. https://doi.org/10.3390/d17090644
๐๐ฏ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐
The Atlantic Forest coastal tablelands is home to a wide diversity of small-sized freshwater fish sharing a biogeographically congruent distributional pattern.
The annual killifish ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ are among these remarkable inhabitants in the riparian wetlands with four species in the area. ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ are located between the Jucuruรงu and Mucuri rivers, geographically replaced by ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐ at the Riacho Doce and the Rio Itaรบnas, and, further south, ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ are in the floodplains of the Rio Sรฃo Mateus and ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ ๐โ๐๐, living in temporary environments of the Rio Barra Seca, north of the Rio Doce.
Due to their restricted habitat in the lowlands, these annual killifish could all be designated as a target species, providing benefits in the conservation of riparian wetlands. However, less is known about their habits and real distribution. Otherwise, the accelerated habitat loss is worrisome. Two of these species are threatened with extinction on Red Lists; one is Near-Threatened; and one is Data-Deficient. After ten years since the last species description, our investigations revealed a fifth species, the first recorded south of Rio Doce.
The present contribution aims to characterize the occupied habitat by each species within the temporary environments and present an updated distributional data on these fish. Additionally, a new ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ is described, the first one recorded south of Rio Doce.
๐๐๐๐บ๐ผ๐น๐ผ๐ด๐
The specific name is a reference to the Tupiniquim Indigenous people, inhabitants of lowlands in the central north of Espรญrito Santo. On the left margin of the Rio Comboios is the Indigenous land Comboios, which corresponds to the nearest human occupation relative to the environments inhabited by these fish.
๐ฃ๐ต๐ผ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐
Top left - ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ ๐โ๐๐: (A) MBML 14205, male, 54.2 mm SL; (B) MBML 14208, female, 29.6 mm SL. Isolated pool in a flooded area in Barra Seca, Linhares, Espรญrito Santo, Brazil. Images: Bruno Pinheiro.
Top right - Couple of ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ in field aquarium. Female in front, male behind. Image: Bruno Pinheiro.
Bottom left - ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ sp. nov. : (A) Male. (B) Female.
Bottom right - ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐, adult male with lanceolate dorsal and a**l fins and contrasting vertical bars on flanks. Image: Bruno Pinheiro. (B). ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐, adult female with translucent fins and dark dots on flanks. Image: Frederico Pereira. Images in field aquarium. Specimens not preserved.
Copyright ยฉ 2025 the Author(s). Published in the Diversity journal. This paper is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0) licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
