Production of a guide to the freshwater fish of Guyana
French Guyana is one of the richest regions in South America, with nearly 400 species of freshwater fish identified. Like many neotropical coastal systems, the Guyana rivers are home to an ichthyofauna characterised by a high rate of endemism (at least 25 % of the species are endemic). 45 fish species in Guyana are, besides, in danger of becoming extinct, and represent major conservation challenges.
The available knowledge about the Guyana freshwater fish is based on a long tradition of scientific inventories that began at the end of the 19th century and is marked by the publication of books, originally succinct but then more and more complete and more and more educational.
In 2000, Pierre-Yves Le Bail and his colleagues published the atlas of the freshwater fish of Guyana, a reference tool containing 480 species known at the time (including the estuary species), with keys, photos, distributions, diagnoses, and biological elements.
But since that publication, new species have been observed and described by professional or amateur naturalists. The taxonomic status of many species has also changed. Knowledge about the ichthyodiversity of Guyana has thus developed considerably, making that “Atlas” partly obsolete.
With the aim of re-editing and completing the Atlas, three members of the Foundation’s Board – Pierre-Yves Le Bail, Raphaël Covain and Frédéric Melki – therefore made an offer to the French Office for Biodiversity and the Guyana Office for Water to finance the production of a new tool for identification of the freshwater fish species of Guyana.
That tool, created with rigorous scientific and naturalist expertise, brings together a number of skills (molecular phylogenetics, taxonomy and scientific description, ecology and conservation, ethology and naturalist identification) and will, like the guides to the identification of birds published in mainland France, enable the consolidation of the skills of the managers of natural spaces and contribute to raising awareness among the different audiences, as well as sharing the culture of nature.
The French Biodiversity Agency
Office de l’eau de Guyane
Ville de Genève
2019-2021
Guyana (France)
