The many freshwater aquatic ecosystems are home to a unique biological diversity, characterized by their abilities to survive in freshwater environments and by their sensitivity to the physical-chemical changes that the waters in which they inhabit on numerous occasions undergo. These changes are due in many cases to the irresponsible actions that humans commit in river ecosystems around the world. For freshwater fish, conservation protection of their natural habitat is of vital importance, since they perform important functions as biological corridors, also acting as semi-permeable membranes that allow and control the flow of matter and energy within the ecosystem.
If you want to know in detail what are the river fish that inhabit the waters of the world’s rivers, continue reading this AgroCorrn article in which you will find all the information about river fish: types, list of names and images .
- Types of river fish
- River fish – list of names
- The largest river fish
- River fish that go up to spawn
Index
Types of river fish
To know what types of river fish exist in nature, we can base ourselves on different classifications that attend to various characteristics of these fish. For example, according to the fat content and nutrients provided by edible river fish, the following are distinguished:
- White river fish: they have a low fat content, since they do not make great energy efforts to survive in the depths of the rivers in which they live.
- Blue river fish: they have a higher fat content, due, among other factors, to their great migratory capacity, which requires a high fat and energy intake to survive.
On the other hand, it is possible to classify river fish according to the benefit that humans make of them, thus finding edible river fish and ornamental river fish , such as the colorful guppy fish ( Poecilia reticulata ) and angelfish ( Pterophyllum scalare ). If you want to know more about the different types of river fish and those of other waters, we recommend you to know the Classification of fish with this other article.
In the next sections we will include the names of more species of river fish that inhabit these amazing ecosystems around the world, highlighting some of their most amazing characteristics, such as their ability to go up rivers and spawn in them.
River fish – list of names
Here are examples of river fish in these lists by country:
River fish of Spain
- River Needle ( Syngnathus abaster )
- Gypsy beard ( Luciobarbus sclateri )
- River wolf ( Barbatula quignardi )
- Common trout ( Salmo trutta )
- Sturgeon ( Acipenser sturio )
Argentina river fish (Paraná river fish)
- Goldfish ( Salminus brasiliensis )
- Sábalo (Prochilodus lineatus)
- Surubíes ( Pseudoplatystoma corruscans )
- Creole eel (family Synbranchidae)
- Mojarras (familia Characidae)
River fish of Peru
- Acaronia nassa
- Amblydoras nauticus
- Landonia latidens
- Rhamdia jequetepeque
- Brycon atrocaudatus
River fish of Chile
- Aplochiton taeniatus
- Basilichthys australis
- Galaxias maculatus
- Odontesthes mauleanum
- Aplochiton zebra
The largest river fish
In this section we offer a list of the names of the largest river fish that exist in various river ecosystems around the world:
- Arapaima ( Arapaima gigas ) – South America
- Crocodile fish ( Lepisosteus osseus ) – North America
- Mekong giant catfish ( Pangasianodon gigas ) – Asia
- White sturgeon ( Acipenser transmontanus ) – North America
- Beluga sturgeon ( Huso huso ) – North America
- Raya motoro, stingray or river chuchuo ( Potamotrygon motoro ) – South America
- Paddlefish ( Polyodon spathula ) – North America
- Pez Perch del Nile ( Lates niloticus ) – Africa
- Taimen fish ( Hucho taimen ) – Asia
- Bull shark ( Carcharhinus leucas ) – North and South America. This species is distributed in the North and South, but it can only be found in river waters in the case of the Amazon River, since in some areas it enters it.
River fish that go up to spawn
Did you know that many fish have the ability to swim upstream great distances to spawn? It is one of the most amazing reproductive strategies in the fish kingdom, in which individuals of various species of freshwater fish , at a certain time of year, their biological clocks indicate the need to swim upstream to ensure their reproduction and survival of their descendants. Some of them even die during the long and strenuous journey against the current that will guarantee the persistence of their species in the wild. Let’s get to know some of these species of river fish that go back to spawn :
- Eels ( Anguilla anguilla )
- Chanquete ( Aphia minutes )
- Gobio ( Gobio gobio )
- Esperlano ( Osmerus esperlanus)
- Sturgeon ( Acipenser sturio )
- Pejerrey (Odontesthes bonariensis)
- Sábalo (Prochilodus lineatus)
- Salmon (genus Salmo)
Finally, if you liked this article about river fish and it has been useful to you, we advise you to learn more about them with these other AgroCorrn articles about curiosities of these aquatic animals :
- How fish breathe .
- Do fish sleep?
- The most dangerous fish in the world .
- What is fish rain and why does it happen?
- 33 fish in danger of extinction .
If you want to read more articles similar to 40 river fish: types, list of names and images , we recommend that you enter our Wild Animals category .
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