Rio Salobra, southern Pantanal, Brazil

Environment

Environment

Untouched

Surrounding area

Pantanal is an area in Brazil that covers the largest tropical wetland in the world. It is located in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, and extends into parts of Mato Grosso and Bolivia and Paraguay. It spreads over an area of 195,000 to 140,000 square kilometers. Pantanal is a home for over 400 variety of fish and upon thousands of invertebrates. Fish population contains about 80% of characiform.
The name Pantanal comes from the Portuguese word pântano – swampy lowland, wet lowland. This natural region covers an area of over 135 thousand square kilometers, 65% of which is located in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The climate of the Pantanal is tropical, with a pronounced dry period from may to September, and a rainy season that begins from November to April. As a result, the water level of the Pantanal rises to 5 meters, forming a region filled with numerous lakes and rivers. One of these rivers is the Salobra.

Terrestrial vegetation:

• Brachiaria humidicola
• Nassella trichotoma
• Copernicia alba
• Euphorbia hirta
• Attalea speciosa
• Astrocaryum rodriguesii

Underwater landscape

Pantanal, clear water biotope, during a rainy season. Plants with small leaves, growing densely, along with pieces of driftwood and roots of nearby tree provides good shelter for small fishes like Apistogramma sp. Customise sp. Corydoras sp.
Water is full of small crustaceans and insect larvae, giving an excellent food source and encourages fish to spawn. Quite low water level near the banks (only about 50cm) of the pond keeps the large predators away. Detritus, algae and protozoa that occurs in leave litter, on the wood and plants are a good source of food for fry. Underwater live is showing its beauty everywhere. In the places where sunlight reaches the water undisturbed by trees, and uncovered by leaves, aquatic vegetation occurs in its greatness.

Fishes:

• Aphyocharax rathbuni
• Apistogramma borellii
• Apistogramma trifasciata
• Aphyocharax nattereri
• Aphyocharax dentatus
• Gymnocorymbus ternetzi
• Hemigrammus ulreyi
• Hyphessobrycon elachys
• Hyphessobrycon eques
• Hyphessobrycon megalopterus
• Jupiaba acanthogaster
• Moenkhausia bonita
• Moenkhausia forestii
• Moenkhausia dichroura
• Corydoras polystictus
• Corydoras aeneus
• Cichlasoma dimerus
• Characidium zebra
• Hoplias misionera
• Characidium laterale
• Brycon hilarii
• Potamotrygon falkneri

Aquatic plants:

• Pontederia crassipes
• Cabomba furcata
• Myriophyllum tuberculatum
• Ceratohpyllum demersum
• Eleocharis sp.
• Ludwigia inclinata
• Pontederia azurea
• Salvinia auriculata
• Polygonum hispidum
• Polygonum puntatum

Wetland plants:

• Cyperus sp.

Threats to ecology

The Salobra River is the only river in the state where fishing is prohibited, which means that the fishing community is large and diverse, which in turn supports many other animals here, including a large number of birds, giant otters, and countless other creatures.

Since 2000, the Pantanal has been a UNESCO world natural heritage site.