| Los Amigos del Pilcomayo |
Salminus maxillosus / brasiliensis
In co-operation with department of Aquatic Ecology & Environmental Biology.
Fishes of the Pilcomayo
Common name: Dorado
Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
Order: Characiformes (characins)
Family: Characidae (Characins)
Sub-Family: Incertae sedis
Species
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| Albatros; 2005; ISBN 950-24-1012-2 Salminus brasiliensis This is possibly one of the best known fish of the La Plata basin. Effective predator with a robust body and hydrodynamic silhouette, a favourite of the sport fisher that enjoys the hard fight it presents and the acrobatic jumps that it carries out when being caught on the hook. The diet of this colossus of our rivers is extremely varied, although it shows preference for the fish, especially, sábalos. The Dorado is a migratory species that completes its reproductive cycle in the rivers of the basin, spawning in the currents. Regrettably for numerous years dams are intervening in their journeys, and the effects of these in their populations are uncertain. Also, negative consequences can only be predicted with the setting in march of the so promoted hidrovía. It arrives in summer to the River Plate and Delta, where there are years of abundance and others in those that it is scarce. In the last years their presence is frequent in this area, parallel to its shortage in some environments of the Paraná where traditionally it was abundant. This possibly has to do with the alterations carried out by men that modify their migratory routes. Their flavourful meat adds attractiveness to the "pirayú", Guarani name for the Dorado and means yellow fish. Every year fishing tournaments are carried out in cities located near the Paraná and Uruguay that summon great number of fans. |
| Source: translated from: Peces de los Ríos Bermejo, Juramento y Cuencas Endorreicas de la Provincia Salta; Gladys Monasterio de Gonzo; Museo de Ciencias Naturales y Consejo de Investigación Universidad Nacional de Salta; Octubre 2003. Salminus maxillosus (Valenciennes, 1840) Common Name: Dorado. Identification: Body moderately tablet, robust and of oblong section. The dorsal and ventral profiles are moderately curved. Big, strong and conical head. Big, oblique mouth, reaches until approximately half of the head, it presents subiguales jaws. Big operculare bones, with radial grooves. The dorsal fin is located toward half of the body. The fatty fin is very small, it is located very next to the caudal fin. The pectoral fins are located in very early and rather next position to the half ventral line. The origin of the pelvic fins is located lightly for before the line that goes by the origin of the dorsal fin. The anal fin presents a scaly base formed by three arrays of scales. The caudal is characteristic for its almost right lobes and the radios lingering means. Color: Attractive colour yellow-orange in the dorsal region, more intense in the area of the opérculo, golden flanks and ventral silver area. Each scale of the back and the flanks present tub it stains brown blackish. The fins are of yellow pale-orange colour. The caudal fin presents a very pigmented, dark stain, of almost triangular contour that is prolonged in the radios means of the caudal fin. Dimensions: They exceed the 800 mm of longitude. In the month of November of 1999, in the river Oath, on the bridge Tunal, a member of a fishing club of the city of Metán extracted an individual of 1.200 mm and 19 Kg. Geographical distribution: This species had a wide distribution in the County, until the construction of the main reservoirs, carried out in the last thirty years. At the moment still it is in the basin of the Red river, place Quena (department of Orán), Outpost Belgrano (department of Elk), basin of the river oath, river Swears in bridge Tunal (department of Metán), High Cheerful (department of Elk) place. Cuenca endorreica of the river Golden-del Valley, river Popayán (department of Elk). Cuenca endorreica of the river Pitches, river Pitches (department of Rosario of the Frontier). Ecology: In mature stage these fish don't form cardúmenes. It is a nektonic and ictiófagous fish that moves solitary through the main channels of the rivers that it inhabits, pursuing the fish that constitute their prey, especially sábalos, bogas, bagres, dentudos and mojarras. It carries out regular reproductive migrations in the rivers of the basins that it still inhabits. The reproductive period in our region begins at the end of October and extends until the beginning of April. |