Research carried out by a group of researchers from the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) currently forms one of the largest databases in Latin America on fish species in the Amazon region. Over the last ten years, the studies have discovered and reported to the scientific community 21 new species of fish in the Xingu River in Altamira, 16 of which are endemic - found only in the river.
Some of the research has been published in leading national and international journals - Neotropical Ichthyology, from the Brazilian Society of Ichthyology, and Nature - and others are in the process of being described. The work continues and the researchers believe that new discoveries may be made.
As well as being highly relevant to science, the research could influence, for example, the definition of conservation areas in one of the most important regions on the planet and part of the Amazon rainforest, because some of the fish, although recently described, are at risk of extinction. The list of endangered species is re-evaluated every 5 years and the work carried out by UFPA researchers has a direct influence on this.
Species identified
Most of the species identified so far by UFPA are ornamental fish. The Xingu region is privileged for its varied species of fish, which attracts the attention of the clandestine market, which traffics these species internationally, leaving through Tabatinga, Brazil's border with Colombia, and being distributed to aquariums in various parts of the world.
The Brown Zebrafish (Hypancistrus sp. "marrom"), a species at an advanced stage of description by UFPA professor Leandro Sousa, for example, is among the fish at risk of disappearing. According to the professor, it is the species with the smallest known geographical distribution for the genus, being restricted to just a few points in the Volta Grande do Xingu, in Altamira, Pará.
Of the species already described, the Acari-zebra (Hypancistrus zebra), also endemic to the Xingu River and included on the list of endangered fish due to clandestine fishing, even though its capture has been banned for 19 years, occurs only in the Volta Grande do Xingu, downstream of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Power Plant's Area of Direct Influence (AID). To give you an idea, this type of fish sells for between $2,000 and $700 on the clandestine market, depending on its size.
Therein lies the relevance of all the effort and intellect of two professors and around 30 Brazilian master's students who are determined to protect and reproduce these fish to prevent them from disappearing forever. They spend weeks setting up and breaking down camps along 300 km of the Xingu River. They spend hours diving and filming the species. Captive breeding at the Xingu Ornamental Fish Aquaculture Laboratory (LAQUAX) is also part of the group's activities.
"In addition to the research, one of the greatest contributions of this project are the structures built at the Federal University of Pará and the human resources we are training," says Professor Leandro Sousa proudly.
The Altamira Ichthyology Laboratory (LIA) and LAQUAX, both on the UFPA Campus in Altamira, are strategic because they are close to the monitored areas and allow researchers to be in the waters of the Xingu River at all times. The laboratories were built and equipped by Norte Energia, the concessionaire of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Power Plant, as part of the project's Basic Environmental Plan to monitor fish in the Xingu River.
