Fish fauna from the Ajó river in Campos del Tuyú National Park, province of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract

We provide the first list of the ichthyofauna from the Ajo river, a water course situated at the southward border of the Samborombon bay (36°20'12"’ S, 56°54'17" W), a RAMSAR site in Argentina. These results were obtained bi-monthly along two years. Forty-five species belonging to 26 families and 11 orders were identified. This fish fauna is composed by freshwater, euryhaline and marine species. Richest groups were Perciformes and Characiformes, with 10 species each. A single species, Micropogonias furnieri (whitemouth croaker), represented more than 70 % of the captured specimens, being juvenile individuals only. Remaining species were also represented by juvenile specimens, confirming the importance of this environment as nursery area, particularly for the whitemouth croaker.