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Issue: Vol. 3608 No. 6: 23 Jan. 2013
Type: Articles
Published: 2013-01-23
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3608.6.2
Page range: 440–456
Abstract views: 68
PDF downloaded: 51

Checklist of the Inland Fishes of El Salvador

LSU Museum of Natural Science (Ichthyology), Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, 119 Foster Hall, Baton Rouge LA 70803 USA
LSU Museum of Natural Science (Ichthyology), Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, 119 Foster Hall, Baton Rouge LA 70803 USA Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Dr., Hattiesburg, MS 39406 USA
Universidad de El Salvador, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, Escuela de Biología, Final 25 Avenida Norte, Ciudad Universitaria, San Salvador, El Salvador
Universidad de El Salvador, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, Escuela de Biología, Final 25 Avenida Norte, Ciudad Universitaria, San Salvador, El Salvador
Universidad de El Salvador, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, Escuela de Biología, Final 25 Avenida Norte, Ciudad Universitaria, San Salvador, El Salvador
LSU Museum of Natural Science (Ichthyology), Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, 119 Foster Hall, Baton Rouge LA 70803 USA
Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, Col. y Calle Las Mercedes, San Salvador, El Salvador
Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, Col. y Calle Las Mercedes, San Salvador, El Salvador
Fish Pisces Central America hydrographic zones Middle America

Abstract

The inland fish fauna of El Salvador and its distribution was originally described in 1925 by Samuel Hildebrand. That work has been the main source of information for freshwater fishes of El Salvador up to today. Based on the combination of an intensive literature review, electronic database searches, re-identification of museum specimens, and fieldwork, we hereby provide an updated checklist of the inland fishes of El Salvador. This checklist provides distributional data at the Salvadoran hydrographical and political (by department) levels. The checklist is systematically arranged at the ordinal and familial level and then alphabetically therein. The freshwater fish fauna of El Salvador includes 101 species divided into 64 genera, 29 families, and 14 orders. According to their supposed tolerance to salinity, 73% of these species are peripheral, 23% secondary, and only 4% are primary freshwater fishes. One species is endemic to the country, Amatitlania coatepeque. The low number of primary freshwater fishes and endemics is comparable to the Central American Pacific slope in particular, as well as northern Central America in general.

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