Brycon ferox Steindachner, 1877

Rodrigues, Leydiane Nunes, Silva, Juliana Paulo Da, Lima, Flávio César Thadeo, Ingenito, Leonardo Ferreira Da Silva, Duboc, Luiz Fernando, Machado, Débora Ferreira & Sarmento-Soares, Luisa Maria, 2021, The genus Brycon Müller & Troschel (Ostariophysi: Characiformes: Bryconidae) of Espírito Santo State, Brazil: new records and comments on conservation, Zootaxa 5072 (2), pp. 145-156 : 149

Brycon ferox Steindachner, 1877

Local name. Piabanha.

Distribution and additional records. Brycon ferox was reported by Lima (2017) as occurring from the rio Itaúnas in northern Espírito Santo State northward to the rio dos Frades basin in southern Bahia state, Brazil. However, the species was also recorded from the rio São Mateus in Espírito Santo (immediately southward to rio Itaúnas basin) by Sarmento-Soares & Martins-Pinheiro (2012), Plesley et al. (2014) and Mazzini et al. (2014), a fact unfortunately omitted by Lima (2017). In addition, recent expeditions made by LFSI and collaborators to the river drainages from northern Espírito Santo (rio Itaúnas, rio São Mateus, and rio Barra Seca basins), and by LNR to the upper rio Barra Seca revealed that B. ferox is widely distributed in the region ( figure 3 ). With the new information herein provided, the distribution of the species extends southward to the rio Barra Seca (Espírito Santo), which is situated immediately north of the rio Doce basin.

Habitat and ecological notes. As mentioned above, Brycon ferox is distributed in Espírito Santo State along the entire course of the rio Itaúnas, rio São Mateus, and rio Barra Seca basins, except in their estuarine portions. Research carried out during a whole year for ecological purposes by the LFSI team at the Reserva Biológica de Sooretama resulted in the capture of 11 B. ferox specimens. Of these specimens, one was captured in the rio Barra Seca (which borders the protected area and is partially preserved) and one at the Córrego do Cupido, outside of the protected area in a degraded area converted to pasture. The remaining specimens were recorded in the Córrego Rodrigues, a tributary of the rio Barra Seca, in its portion that runs within the protected area, but not along its stretch outside the Reserva Biológica de Sooretama, where there was no riparian forest left. Machado (2017) studied the diet of ten specimens of B. ferox collected from the rio Barra Seca basin in the Reserva Biológica de Sooretama, and found the species concentrated on ten food items, from which about 92% was represented by insects, followed by plants (4%, fragments and seeds, including seeds of Plantaginaceae and Solanaceae ) and fish (3%). Additional ecological data about the species, including data on its reproduction, are necessary for a better understanding of its ecological requirements.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Brycon ferox, CZNC 1648, 134,12 mm SL: Brazil, Espírito Santo, rio São Mateus basin.