Abstract

AGUILAR-PALOMINO, Bernabé; PEREZ REYES, Celia; GALVAN-MAGANA, Felipe  and  ABITIA-CARDENAS, L. Andrés. Ictiofauna de la Bahía de Navidad, Jalisco, México. Rev. biol. trop [online]. 2001, vol.49, n.1, pp.173-190. ISSN 0034-7744.

A check-list and the relative abundance of the ichthyofauna from  Bahia de Navidad, Jalisco, Mexico is presented. This poorly known area of the eastern Tropical Pacific ocean is characterized by its great fish diversity. A total of 245 fish species  (163 genera, 72 families) were collected during the 1994-1995 annual cycle. Vouchers were deposited in  Centro  de Ecologia Costera,  Universidad de Guadalajara. The most important families in number of species were Carangidae (20 species), Haemulidae (20), Serranidae (17), Sciaenidae (13) and Lutjanidae (8);  20 species  represented  85 % and 80 %  of relative abundance and biomass respectively. Microlepidotus brevipinnis,  Caranx caninus, Caranx caballus, Kiphosus analogus and Caranx sexfasciatus, were the dominant species.  Most fish species collected in Bahia de Navidad have zoogeographical affinity with the Panamic Province (65%), and in lesser proportion with the Eastern Pacific  Ocean (19%), Circumtropical (7%), Mexican Province (5%),  Indo-Pacific Ocean (3%) and Gulf of California (0.4%). The great  ichthyological affinity  between  the study area and the southern Gulf of California  suggests an extension of the of Gulf southern limit.

Keywords : Ichthyofauna; ichthyogeography; Bahia de Navidad; Jalisco; Mexico.