Abstract

SALINAS, Víctor; MANCINI, Miguel; BIOLE, Fernanda  and  LIENDO, Alejandra. Características físico-químicas del agua y composición de la ictiofauna del embalse Piedras Moras (Córdoba, Argentina). Rev. Mus. Argent. Cienc. Nat. [online]. 2017, vol.19, n.2, pp.201-209. ISSN 1853-0400.

The Piedras Moras reservoir (32°10.13’S, 64°16.50’W) is the latest in a series of six that have been built over the basin of “Tercero” river, situated in Córdoba province. Hence, the present study was carried out to determine the physic-chemical characteristics of water and ichthyofauna in Piedras Moras. Water and fish samplings were taken seasonally. The fish were caught with trawl nets, gill nets and longlines. The water had low hardness and salinity (164 mg / L). The temperature, transparency, pH and dissolved oxygen did not show significant differences between sampling sites (P> 0.05), but did occur between seasons (P <0.01). Water temperature varied from 14.7 to 26.5 °C, while the values of dissolved oxygen were within the range of 5.7 and 9.3 ppm. There was a significant correlation between both variables (rs = -0.78, P <0.01). A total of twelve species of fish, belonging to five orders and eight families were captured. The presence of the genus Hypostomus was also confirmed. The largest family was the Characidae. The values of the Shannon-Wiener diversity index ranged from 1.45 to 2.01 bits. Catch per unit effort (CPUEp) of the fishery target species: Odontesthes bonariensis, varied from 0.74 to 3.24 kg / 20hs / gillnet. In the Piedras Moras reservoir there are only eleven of the 29 species recorded in the basin of “Tercero” river. The ichthyofauna at Piedras Moras had greater similarity to the ones in the reservoirs located in the same basin than those which are located in any other one.

Keywords : Reservoirs; Argentina; Piedras Moras; Ecology; Fish; Odontesthes bonariensis.