The fish fauna of the Parque Estadual do Cantão, Araguaia River, State of Tocantins, Brazil

Abstract

The Parque Estadual do Cantão is a protected area in the Araguaia River. In a survey carried out during a complete hydrological cycle, 271 species of fish, belonging to 183 genera, 41 families and 12 orders were captured. Characidae was the most diverse family with 89 species (32.6% of the total), followed by Loricariidae with 23 species (8.4%) and Cichlidae with 21 species (7.7%), ten families were represented by only one species. The results showed that the PE Cantão is an area with high diversity of fish species, and that the assemblies are still well preserved, so the existence and maintenance of this Park is of high interest for the preservation of the Araguaia River fish fauna.