Feeding Ecology of Fishes in the Brazilian Amazon - A Naturalistic Approach

Abstract

The Amazon system is composed by a multitude of rivers with varying \nwater types and strikingly different productivities. This environmental \ndiversity is accompanied by the presence of diverse fish species \nassemblages and ecological characteristics. Although a considerable \namount of information about the trophic relations of the Amazonian \nfishes and their natural habitats have been generated in the previous few \ndecades, most of the published literature deals only with descriptions of \nthe main food items of the commercially most important species, and is \nbased mainly on stomach contents analyses. We present here a quick look \ninto the trophic interactions of the fishes and their natural environments, \nbased on the diversity of the Amazonian fish fauna and its aquatic habitats. This chapter focuses on the main aquatic environments found in \nthe Brazilian Amazon: the huge river-floodplain systems and their \ndifferent water types; the multitude of small clear and black water streams \nthat drains the "terra firme" (upland, non-floodable) forests, including \ntheir marginal temporary ponds; and the riffles and rapids zones of the \nrivers that drain the Brazilian and Guyana Shields and harbor a very rich \nand trophically specialized fish fauna.