An inventory of coastal freshwater fishes from Amapa highlighting the occurrence of eight new records for Brazil

Abstract

The Amazon Basin occupies a vast portion of northern South America and contains some of the highest species richness in the world. The northern Brazilian state of Amapa is delimited by the Amazonas River to the south, the Oyapock River to the northern boundary with French Guyana, and the Atlantic northeastern coast to Amazon estuary. Despite several expeditions to the Amazon in recent decades, little is known about the freshwater ichthyofauna from Amapa, with records limited to local inventories and species descriptions. This paper presents a compilation of the freshwater fish diversity sampled in fifteen sites covering two major Amapa ecoregions during the dry season of 2015. 120 species representing eight orders and 40 families are reported upon in this work. Eight species appear for the first time in the Brazilian territory providing new information for future conservation status evaluations.