Fish fauna in and around the Rapids of Mboungou Badouma and Doumé Ramsar site, Gabon

Check List 15(6): 997-1029, doi: 10.15560/15.6.997

Joseph S. Cutler^‡, Jean-Hervé Mvé-Beh^§, John P. Sullivan^|, Yves Fermon^¶, Brian L. Sidlauskas^#

‡ University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Curz, United States of America§ Institut de Recherches Agronomiques et Forestières, Libreville, Gabon| Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates, Ithaca, United States of America¶ Association AIMARA, Paris, France# Oregon State University, Corvalis, United States of America

Corresponding author: Joseph S. Cutler ( jscutler1@gmail.com )

Academic editor: Eva Decru

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation:

Abstract

We assessed the fish diversity of the Ogooué and Sébé rivers in and around the Rapids of Mboungou Badouma and Doumé Ramsar site in Gabon. The ichthyofauna of this region has not been extensively sampled in over 150 years, yet encompasses one the most important type localities for fishes in Central Africa. We sampled a total of 31 sites and collected nearly 3000 fish specimens representing 97 species. Nine species appeared to be new to science, and one catalyzed the recent description of a new genus of mormyrid fishes.

Keywords

Africa, assemblages, fishes, freshwater, Ogooué, tropics, conservation