Fishes of Panama

[duanes]

These are all species caught between the Rio Chagres and its tributaries in Central Panama, which includes Panama Canal, and it's lakes, to as far east as the Rio Ipiti in the Darien. I begin with just the rivers, and a few tributaries

Above is the Panama Canal shot from above in Gamboa, near the Pacific end.
Below and northern end of the canal, at the Caribbean end near Colon.

Below Lago Arenosa, a part of the Chagres river and Panama canal system.

And below, the Rio Ipiti, in the Darien, the furthest east and most remote area I gave collected so far.

It took 2 hours on a dirt road to access.
Below the Rio Mamoni situated on the western edge of the the Darien.

 

[duanes]

1st some Gobies, called Guavina here.
Eleotris picta, sometimes called the water cow in the states

The gener found here range from Brazil and Peru in S America, to as far north as California, and Georgia in the US, and can be found in fresh, brackish, and in both Ocean.


Below Gobiomorus dormitor, the big mouth sleeper


It is a consummate predator that can get large, and eat everything fro medium cichlids, to catfish in an aquarium.

And the most common goby found in the rivers where I collect, Awaous banana.
A scavanger, and sand sifter.

I have found it to be a great aquarium fish, holding itts own with cichlids, yet not overly aggressive.

 

[duanes]

Catfish and plecos are common all over Panama.

These are Pimodella chagresi, these were caught in the Rio Pedro Miguel in shallow water.


You can see by the way the flash lights up their eye, they are nocturnal, and prefer slow flow areas.
.
Unlike the species above, most of the pleos types I catch, are mostly found im strong current areas, even rapids, and in the counter current zones directly under waterfalls.
Every cast of the net in the area above would bring upp a 10-12" pleco.


I below this is a Chaetostoma species

Then there are the armored whip tais cats, Sturisomatichthys panamense.


Male above, you can tell by the hair like appendages near the gill plate.
These are always found in swift flowing streams.


Note the lack of hairy appendages.

 

[duanes]

So far, in 5 years of collecting, I have only caught 3 species of endemic cichlids.
The 1st and most commonly caught ia Andinoacara coeruleopunctatus.

Above is the variant most commonly found in central Panama, from the Pacora river and west,
belows the variant found in more eastern rivers.

I usually catch them at about 2", and they easily grow to over 7.
Both spawn seasonally between Dec, tru March.


Further east is where Isthmomeros tuyrense was found.


These vary in color and pattern, and are quite aggressive with each other, and other cichlids.

Darienheros calobrese was not found, until we reached the Rio Mamoni, bordering the Darien.
These seem to be more rheophillis than the others, usually only caught where current is strong.

They remind me of Geophagines, and tend to to be earth eaters and sift sandy substrate
.

 

[duanes]

Characins (tetras and ther kin) are probably the most common fish in Panama.
For every 1 cichlid caught in the net, probably 50 to 100 tetras are caught.
Astyanax have been the most common.

I find them in fast water, slow water, deep water, water of only a few inches deep, lakes, rivers, tiny creeks

Bring up a close 2nd in population are the genus Roeboides.

Some get quite large.

The Brycon above can reach a length of 2 ft (59 cms)


Another tetra related species that found its way into our nets, is the gar Characin, Ctenolucius beani.


Then there are the toothless tetras, from the genus Cyphcharax.

 

[duanes]

And just to thorough, I test water parameters in all water bodies where I have collected using the API liquid tests, and API strips

The pH has always hovered around 8 to 8.2.

Nitrates have always undetectable.

Hardness is usually moderate to quite hard, depending on rainfall.
,

And water temps around 80'F (26.5' C)

 

[FJB]

Cool stuff! Thank you so much for sharing!