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Ornamental fish of economic and biological importance to the Xingu River

The deployment of the Belo Monte’s Hydroelectric Power Plant, in the state of Pará, influences and makes changes to the river flow and hydrological cycle in the area, which reflects in the decrease of fish populations (Eletrobras, 2008Eletrobras, 2008. Aproveitamento hidrelétrico Belo Monte. Diagnóstico de impacto ambiental, ictiofauna e pesca. vol. 19, 433 p.).

In the city of Altamira, over 200 species of fish are traded as ornamentals (Carvalho Junior et al., 2009Carvalho JUNIOR, JR., Carvalho, NASS., Nunes, JLG., Camões A., Bezerra MFC., SANTANA, AR. and NAKAYAMA, L., 2009. Sobre a pesca de peixes ornamentais por comunidades do rio Xingu, Pará – Brasil: relato de caso. Boletim do Instituto de Pesca, vol. 35, no. 3, p. 521-530.). The increase of the market value leads to increased selective fishing and consecutively to overfishing. Furthermore, environmental changes imply major social changes, since a large part of the local population depends on ornamental fishery as a source of income. While Brazil does not develop protocols for the commercial production of ornamental fish, these populations live off extractive fishing. On the other hand in Asian countries, considered major importers, technological advances have been recorded in aquaculture for several Brazilian species of high commercial value, such as stingrays (Potamotrygonidae) and several species of plecos (Loricariidae), among them the zebra pleco (Chapman, 2000Chapman, FA., 2000. Ornamental fish culture, freshwater. In STICKNEY, RE. (Ed.). Encyclopedia of aquaculture, New York: John Wiley & Sons. vol. 3, p. 602-610.; Ribeiro et al., 2009Ribeiro, FAS., Carvalho JUNIOR, JR., Fernandes, JBK., and NAKAYAMA, L., 2009. Cadeia a produtiva do peixe ornamental. Panorama da Aquicultura, vol. 19, no. 112, p. 36-45.). Hence, a loss in profits for Brazil can be observed.

Thus the choice of species for ornamental fish farming should consider biological characteristics such as reproductive and dietary habits, requirements for the creation of eggs and larvae.

This paper aims to select priority species for research to enable the development of species of ornamental interest from the Xingu region of cultivation technologies.

The indices of species selection were based on biological and zootechnical aspects. Furthermore, due to peculiar characteristics of ornamental fishes, characteristics described by Kodama et al. (2011)Kodama, G., ANNUNCIAÇÃO, WF., SANCHES, EG., GOMES, CHAM., and TSUZUKI, MY., 2011. Viabilidade econômica do cultivo do peixe palhaço, Amphiprionocellaris ocellaris, em sistema de recirculação. Boletim do Instituto de Pesca, vol. 37, no. 1, p. 61-72. were also considered, such as market demand, value marketing, zootechnical aspects of species and the available production technology.

Thus the indexes were divided into 2 groups: Biological/zootechnical: abundance, distribution, reproductive potential, the rusticity of captive conditions, capacity to form groups and couples, reproductive and stocking density, and Economic/ecologic: market value and conservation status.

Ninety-four species of fish from the Xingu were used, distributed in twelve families occurring in the ornamental market, which were classified according to the index, bibliography and collected information of the actors in the productive chain of ornamental fish, followed by a Marketplace analysis. Each index received grades: high, medium and low. After this step, we constructed a feasibility matrix, a tool developed using Fuzzy logic, because of uncertainties in the dynamics of the ornamental market and the lack of biological information on the species of ornamental fish from the Xingu River (Shaw and Simões, 1999Shaw, IS. and Simões, MG. (Eds.), 1999. Controle e modelagem Fuzzy. São Paulo: Edgard Blücher. 165 p.).

The selection of priority species for research was restricted to three main fish families, based on the interests of local fishermen and exporters: Loricariidae (Table 1), Potamotrygonidae and Cichlidae (Table 2).

Table 1
List of the species assessed from the family Loricariidae.
Table 2
List of the species assessed from the Potamotrygonidae and Cichlidae families.

Based on the array (Figure 1) of five species, one species of Potamotrygonidae (Potamotrygon leopoldi) and two species of Cichlidae (Creniciclha regani and Teleociclha spp) were chosen from the family loricariidae (Hypancistrus zebra, Hypancistrus sp2, Baryancistrus xanthelus, Scobinancistrus sp3 and Ancistrus sp4).

Figure 1
Ranking higher priority species for aquaculture research. Distributed family: Loricariidae (a); Potamotrygonidae (b) and Cichlid (c).

Acknowledgements

We thank Norte Energia SA, LEME Engenharia, and CNPq (406512/2012-4) and CAPES.

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References

  • Carvalho JUNIOR, JR., Carvalho, NASS., Nunes, JLG., Camões A., Bezerra MFC., SANTANA, AR. and NAKAYAMA, L., 2009. Sobre a pesca de peixes ornamentais por comunidades do rio Xingu, Pará – Brasil: relato de caso. Boletim do Instituto de Pesca, vol. 35, no. 3, p. 521-530.
  • Chapman, FA., 2000. Ornamental fish culture, freshwater. In STICKNEY, RE. (Ed.). Encyclopedia of aquaculture, New York: John Wiley & Sons. vol. 3, p. 602-610.
  • Eletrobras, 2008. Aproveitamento hidrelétrico Belo Monte. Diagnóstico de impacto ambiental, ictiofauna e pesca. vol. 19, 433 p.
  • Kodama, G., ANNUNCIAÇÃO, WF., SANCHES, EG., GOMES, CHAM., and TSUZUKI, MY., 2011. Viabilidade econômica do cultivo do peixe palhaço, Amphiprionocellaris ocellaris, em sistema de recirculação. Boletim do Instituto de Pesca, vol. 37, no. 1, p. 61-72.
  • Ribeiro, FAS., Carvalho JUNIOR, JR., Fernandes, JBK., and NAKAYAMA, L., 2009. Cadeia a produtiva do peixe ornamental. Panorama da Aquicultura, vol. 19, no. 112, p. 36-45.
  • Shaw, IS. and Simões, MG. (Eds.), 1999. Controle e modelagem Fuzzy. São Paulo: Edgard Blücher. 165 p.

Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    Aug 2015

History

  • Received
    06 May 2014
  • Accepted
    14 July 2014
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