Biological Society of Washington - Department of Botany ...

Abstract.—Distributions are provided for 1168 species of fishes that live in the
freshwater drainage systems overlying the Guiana Shield in Brazil, Colombia,
French Guiana, Guyana, and Suriname. This total includes representatives of
376 genera, 49 families, and 15 orders, with five orders (Characiformes,
Siluriformes, Perciformes, Gymnotiformes, and Cyprinodontiformes) accounting
for 96.7% of the diversity. Drainage systems on the Guiana Shield are home
to approximately 23% of the freshwater species known from Central and South
America. A summary is provided of ichthyological collecting on the Shield along
with summaries of major publications dealing with fishes of each region on the
Shield. Factors that may account for the high species level diversity in that
region are discussed. Methods for photographing fishes are detailed, and a
photographic album of 127 species of 46 families that occur on the Shield is
included.
Key Words.—Guiana Shield Fishes, Freshwaters, Brazil, Colombia, French
Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela.
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