COLLECTION AND FIXATION OF STREAM FISHES

Abstract

Collecting fishes, especially stream fishes, presents a series of difficulties, due mainly to the selectivity of each existing collecting method. The selectivity of each fishing method, in its turn, is directly dependent on the various habitats and fish species characteristics. To choose the collecting methods, it is necessary not only to know the habitat and its fish species habits, but also to have a clear definition of the nature and objectives of the study to be conducted. In this paper, after a brief explanation of the main habitat characteristics and types of studies that can be conducted in streams, a revision of the principal fishing methods applicable to streams is presented. A short revision of the more adequate fixation methods for stream fishes is also presented. In these revisions, the situations in which each collecting and fixation method can be applied (based on the characteristics of the stream, the fish species and the kind of research planned) are pointed, together with the kind of selectivity, vantages and disadvantages of each fishing method.