Inventario RAP de la ictiofauna del Río Aurra y sus tributarios en San Jerónimo, Antioquia

A RAP (rapid assessment procedure) inventory of the ichthyofauna of the Aurra river watershed (San Jeronimo, Antioquia) was conducted. The design for the selection of study sites attempted to permit an evaluation of possible human impacts on the local ichthyofauna. Electrofishing techniques were employed, permitting the sampling of eight sites during the same day, yielding a total of 374 individuals belong to seventeen species from five different families. Three of the species collected have not been reported previously for the middle Cauca drainage. A significant negative relationship between ichthyological diversity and the distance of the sites to the Cauca river was documented. Although no effects of a pisciculture facility were detected, the sites near the town of San Jeronimo demonstrated lower diversity values, as compared to other study sites of similar distances from the Cauca river. This study shows that rapid inventories of the freshwater ichthyofauna of Colombia may provide valuable information on distributional ranges within the country and on the impact of human activities.