Catching Loricariids In The Rio Zingu

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Andrew C
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Catching Loricariids In The Rio Zingu

Post by Andrew C »

Just got "Baensch's Catfish Atlas 1" and was having a look through it to see what it said about the Rio Xingu, the Zebras habitat, and thought this was interesting;

Quoted from "Baensch's Catfish Atlas 1";

"Some of the most beautiful species are captured exclusively at specific sites either up river or down river, and then in part only at a greater depth.
The American Forshey, observed the Xingu's suckermouth catfish fishermen during their activities and made a report.
According to Forshey, the fishermen employ various methods to capture loricariids in the Xingu River.
To capture the loricariids at greater depths, they employ an air supply system simular to the one employed by people prospecting for gold.
A small compressor supplies a pressurized air tank, which has two hoses connected to it, both have a valve to regulate the air flow.
The air hose is wrapped around the body because of the strong current, and a additional 10 pound weight is carried by the fishermen, so as not to be swept downriver by the current.
Besides their hands, the suckermouth catfish fishermen also employ two sticks called "vaqueta", these sticks are used to flush the fish out of their hiding place and into the fishermen's hands or nets.
Despite the crudness of the method, only rarely are the fishes harmed, as the fishermen operate very patiently and manipulate the animals with great care, after all, they are their livelihood.
The captured specimens are provisionally stored in the pants pockets, the diving mask, or other simular improvised pockets.
A good fishermen earns approximately US$ 200 per week, an extremely handsome income in that part of the world.

One of the most difficult suckermouth catfishes to capture is the ever popular zebra catfish (hypancistrus zebra), given that this species is virtually exclusively at home at great depth.
H. zebra is said to be captured at a depth of three to nine meters during the dry season, and even at 9 to 18 meters or more during the rainy season.
The capture of this species requires great ability, and one fishermen told us how he almost drowned during an attempt to capture these fishes.
It is likely that given this type of fishing method and the presence of cross currents even at great depth there are fatalities among the less experienced fishermen.
This is an unfortunate side effect of the rising popularity of suckermouth catfishes, not to mention the bodily harm that is likely to occur over time as the captors repeatedly subject themselves to significant changes in pressure during their diving endeavors.

However, most ancistrine loricariids are found in shallow waters with a strong current."
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