Herein we describe spawning and egg guarding in the erythrinid fish Hoplias malabaricus observed in the southern Pantanal (19 degrees 34' S and 57 degrees 00' W), state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Nests were depressions built on sandy soil in flooded areas, and contained a mean of 8,197 +/- 2,204 eggs (N = 4); the mean diameter of eggs was 1.44 +/- 0.09 mm (N = 400). Among 11 nests observed,...

The exposure of fish to air is normally expected to interfere with the nitrogen excretion process. Hoplias malabaricus and Hoplerythrinus unitaeniatus, two teleost species, display distinct behaviors in response to decreases in natural reservoir water levels, although they may employ similar biochemical strategies. To investigate this point, plasma levels of ammonia, urea, uric acid, and the tw...

The diversity of Epinephelus species was investigated throughout Thailand. Random amplified polymorphic DNA successfully produced 1300 bands that were phylogenetically informative and used to construct cladograms. Values of pairwise genetic similarity (S) within species ranged from 0.65 in E. erythrurus to 0.99 in E. malabaricus. The interspecific values of S ranged from 0.23 between E. malabar...

The effects of clastogenic or mutagenic agents have rarely been studied in neotropical fish species exposed to contaminated water. In this study, the genetic damage caused by lead in the widely distributed South American fish, Hoplias malabaricus, was assessed using the comet (SCGE) assay and by testing for chromosomal aberrations. Eighteen specimens were acclimatized to laboratory conditions a...

Investigating the relations and mechanisms of coexistence among sympatric species is essential to comprehend their ecological roles in the food webs. In the present study, the diet and trophic interactions of 5 abundant teleost species coexisting in the northern Oman Sea were examined using stomach contents analyses. The cumulative prey curves showed that the sample size of each studied species...