José Iván Mojica

The Magdalena River fresh water fishes and fisheries

The Magdalena River Basin is the most important region of Colombia in terms of development and economy. About 80% of its population lives in this basin and traditionally its waters have produced more than 60% of fish consumed in the country. Nonetheless, from a production of nearly 80,000 ton yr− 1 in the 1970s, currently those fisheries produce only one tenth of that amount. This paper analyzes the different reasons of this collapse, and concludes that the causes are social, due to over fishing by landless displaced peasants trying to survive as fishermen.

A new trans-Andean Stick Catfish of the genus Farlowella Eigenmann & Eigenmann, 1889 (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) with the first record of the genus for the río Magdalena Basin in Colombia

A new species of Farlowella is described from El Carmen de Chucurí in the Departamento de Santander, western flank of the Cordillera Oriental, río Magdalena Basin, Colombia. Farlowella yarigui n. sp. differs from its congeners in lateral body plate morphology, abdominal cover, cephalic hypertrophied odontodes, and details of coloration. This is the first verifiable record of the genus in the Magdalena drainage. Aspects of natural history and implications of this finding are provided concerning the state of knowledge of the fishes of the río Magdalena Basin. Previous records of Farlowella gracilis in the río Cauca basin are examined and herein considered erroneous, rendering the new species the only representative of the genus in the Magdalena-Cauca system. A key to species of Farlowella from Colombia is provided.

Figure 21 In Historical Review, Catalog Of Type Specimens And Online Database Of The Ichthyology Collection Of The Instituto De Ciencias Naturales Of The Universidad Nacional De Colombia (Icn-Mhn)

For the first time, the catalog of type specimens of ICN-MHN is presented with high resolution photographs. The catalog lists 87 species in 161 lots and includes 41 holotypes, 3 neotypes, and 117 lots of paratypes. Some doubts remain about type specimens of some species described by Miles and Dahl that were supposedly deposited at ICN-MHN. The history of the collection is reconstructed and valuable specimens once considered lost or destroyed have been rediscovered. The botanical and zoological collections of the ICN can be consulted online (http://www.biovirtual.unal.edu.co).