Freshwater Fishes of Sierra Leone and Liberia 331
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Freshwater jïshes of Sierra Leone and Liberia Annotated checklist and distribution Didier PAUGY (1), Christian LÉVÊQUE (l), Guy G. TEUGELS (fi?), Rémy BIGORNE (1) et Raymond ROMAND (3) SUMMARY The authors present an up-to-date check-lis1 of the freshwater fishes of the coastal basins of Sierra Leone and Liberia. The fuma1 lists are based on the literature dafa and on the collections of fishes housed in the european and american natural history museums; part of this material was collected by fhe authors. Identifications were made according 10 the most recent revisions. Species lists for each river basin were established as a base for a zoogeographical work on the fiShes of West Africa. KEY WORD~: Fish - Freshwater - West Africa - Sierra Leone - Liberia - Taxonomy - Fauna - Zoogeography. RÉSUMÉ POISSONS D'EAU DOUCE DE LA SIERRA LEONE ET DU LIBERIA: LISTE COMMENTÉE DES ESPÈCES ET DE LEUR DISTRIBUTION A partir des collections déposées dans les muséums d’histoire naturelle européens ef dans un muséum américain, réalisées en partie par les auteurs et à partir de travaux effectués dans cette zone, une mise à jour des connaissances de la faune ichtyologique des bassins côtiers de la Sierra Leone et du Liberia es1 présentée. Il a été tenu compte pour la nomenclature des révisions les plus récentes. Des listes par bassin hydrographique on1 élé établies qui doivent servir de base à un travail d’ensemble sur la zoogéographie des Poissons d’Afrique de l’Ouest. MOTS-CLÉS : Poissons - Eau douce - Afrique de l’Ouest - Sierra Leone - Liberia - Taxinomie - Faune Zoogéographie. (1) Hydrobiologisfes ORSTOM, Muséum nafional d’histoire nafurelle, Laboratoire d’lchfyologie générale ef appliquée, 4.3 pue Cuuier, 75,231 Paris Cedex 05, France. (2) Musée royal de l’Afrique centrale, Laborafoire d’lchfyologie, B 1980 Tervuren, Belgique. (3) Université Blaise-Pascal, Ensemble scienfifique des Cézeaux, 63177 Aubière Cedex, France. Rev. Hydrobiol. trop. 23 (4) : 329-350 (1990). 330 D. PAUGY, C. LÉvI?QUE, G. G. TEUGELS, R. BIGORNE, R. ROMAND (.)ur knowledge of t.he freshwater fish fauna from Sierra Leone which collections are deposited in the Sierra Leone and Liberia is still rat.her poor. A British Museum (BMNH-London) and by ORSTOM regional monograph as published for Guinée by teams in the Upper reaches of rivers basins under DAGET (1962) and for Côte-d’Ivoire by DAGET and consideration in Guinée and C&e-d’ivoire from 1980 ILTIS (1965) is lacking for Sierra Leone and the most, to 1987 and in Sierra Leone in 1989 (collections recent review for Liberia is given by SCHULTZ (1942). deposited in the Muséum national d’histoire naturel- During recent years the taxonomy of African le - Paris). freshwater fishes has often been substantially modi- fied following results of detailed revisions based on the st-udy of various new collections. This paper is an att,empt. to provide an up-to-date chec.klist of fish PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY from Sierra Leone and Liberia. It follows three other contributions to the knowledge on taxonomy and distribution of fish in surrounding countries : Côte- A general review of physical geography, c.limatolo- d’ivoire and western Ghana (TEUGELS et al., 1988) gy and hydrography of Sierra Leone and Liberia is Guinée and Guinée Bissau (LÉVÊQUE et al., 1989) and given in DAVEAU (1971a, b) and BALARIN (1984a, b). Sierra Leone c,overs 73,326 km2. The flat toast belt Togo (PAUGY and BENECH, 1989). wit,h many estuaries and mangrove swamps is followed by int.erior plains (altit,ude 150-300 m) which rise to high plateaux and mountains in the REVTEW OF SYSTEMATTC LITERATURE AND north-east, some of t.hem (Mt Loma and Fingi) rising RECENT COLLECTIONS OF FISHES FROM to over 1,500 m. High plateaux and interior plains SIERRA LEONE AND LIBERIA are covered wit,h rain forest, part.ly degraded in the interior plain as a result. of agriculture (bush fires are The first contributions on freshwater fishes from more and more frequent). Liberia were the early papers of HUBRECHT (1881) Liberia covers 111,370 km2 and the relief is fairly and STEINDACHNER (1895) followed by the review of similar to that found in Sierra Leone. Low moun- SCHULTZ (1942). There is no similar paper for Sierra tains below 900 m are scattered t,hroughout the Leone, for which only limited information was country. The two highest peaks are the Mt Nimba published : AHL (1937), BOULENGER (1915 and 1919), (1752 mj and the Mt Wologosi (1446 m) both DAGET (1950 and 1962), CHAYTOR and WILLIAMS situated on the north-eastern border. The highlands (1966), NORMAN (1932). Short notes mainly dealing of the north-eastern borders form a watershed with with descriptions of new species were also published the Niger basin. Most of t.he major rivers originate in for both countries and for the Upper reaches of river the highlands and slow NE/SW to the Ocean. As a basins situated in Guinée and Côte d’ivoire : GÉRY result,, rivers are relatively short and of narrow (1968), HOWES (1980), LAMBERT (1958), LÉVÊQUE catchment. They tut the plateaux region, creating a and PAUGY (1982), NICHOLS and LA MONTE (1933), slow erosion process resulting in the steep “V” PAYNE and TREWAVAS (1976), THYS VAN DEN shaped valleys of most of the upland watercourses. AUDENAERDE (1968a, b, c, d; 1969a, b, c, d; 1970 The Upper courses are rocky and “torrential”, and 1974). The major part of the literature deals whereas t,he lower courses are swampy and end in with the Cyprinodontidae which were studied in wide estuary mouths. Most of the rivers exhibit detail by several authors : BERKENKAMP (1977, 1978 floodplains in their lower courses. There are no major and 1979), BERKENKAMP and ETZEL (1977 ; 1978a, b ; natural freshwater lakes but quit.e large coastal 1979a, b; 1980; 1982 and 1983a, b), CLAUSEN (1966), lagoons (freshwater and brackish). ETZEL (1977; 1978a, b, c), ETZEL and BERKENKAMP The surfaces of the main river basins (in km2) (1979; 1980a, b), LADIGES and ROLOFF (1973), estimated from 1/1,000,000 maps are : Litt,les Scar- NEUMANN (1976), RADDA (1976), ROLOFF (1965; c.ies or Kaba of which Mongo river is the principal 1971a, b), ROLOFF and LADIGES (1972), ROMAND tributary (18,530), Rokel or Rockel or Seli (8,440), (1978a, b; 1979; 1980; 19%; 1986), VANDERMISSEN Jong or Pampana or Taja or Taya or Taia or Taye (lE)77a, b; 1978), VANDERMISSEN et Ul. (1980). (7,750), Sewa or Bagbe or Bagbwe of which Waanje Since two decades several new collections from river is the principal tributary (19,050), Moa (18,760), these countries were deposited in different natural Mano or Gbea (8,260), Fisherman lake (1,880), Lofa history museums. We should mention in particular (13,200), St Paul (18,180), Du-Farmington (>7,000), the large surveys undertaken by THYS VAN DEN St John (> 14,000), Cess or Cestos or Nuon (Liberia) AUDENAERDE in Sierra Leone and Liberia whose or Nipou (Côte-d’Ivoire (11,920) (fig. 1). The fish collections are housed by the Musée royal d’Afrique fauna of t.he Kolenté or Great Scarcies river has been centrale (MRAC-Tervuren), by Payne in western t.reated in an other paper (LÉVÊQUE et al., 1989) and R~U. Hydrobiol. irop. 23 (4) : .329-350 (19.90). FRESHWATER FISHES OF SIERRA LEONE AND LIBERIA 331 > I I P’E 12’E 10’E REETOW 12:E 1q”E FIG. 1. - Hydrographical map of Sierra Leone and Liberia (main basins). Le réseau hydrographique de la Sierra Leone et du Liberia (principaux bassins). TABLE 1 no other samples were carried out since this publica- Observed species richness and predicted species richness in tion. SO we do not consider this basin here. function of the area of t,he basin (after t.he relationships The climate is hot and wet. There is a wet season established by DAGET and ILTIS, 1965 and by HUGUENY, (from April-May to October-November) and a dry 1989a) season. Mean total annual rainfall is high and drops Richesse spécifique observée ef théorique calculée en foncfion de along a SW/NE axis from 4,000-5,000 mm along thc la superfkie des bassins versanfs (d’après les relafions établies toast to 2,000 mm on the north-eastern border. In par DAGET et ILT~S, 1965 et par HUGUENY, 1989a) Sierra Leone rains are heaviest in August, but in Liberia there is a break in intensity (the mid dry Bassin Superficie Richesse Richesse Richesse period) in July-August. (h2) spécifique .&ciRque spécifique The main rivers flow a11year round. Only few data observée lhéolique are known about. discharge. BALARIN (1984a) men- tionned an average per year of 123 m3 SI for the Mano river (range from 50 to 600 rG s-l) and a range of 70-2,500 m3 s-l for the St Paul river. CHAYTOR (1969) gave some data for the hydrological regime of the river Jong. The peak occurs in August-Septem- ber and the minimum in March. Water temperature in the river Jong (CHAYTOR, 1969) ranges from 25 “C >7000 1 42-43 1 >46 >39 (September-October) to 31 “C (April-May). This river 1 S14000 1 55-56 1 >55 1 >49 was found to be acidic throughout the year and 1 11920 1 61-62 1 52-53 1 46-47 possessed a low dissolved chemical content (c.onduc- Rev. Hydrobiol. trop. 23 (4) : 329-350 (1990) C>C ,, 3 3, D. pAUCkY, C. LtivZikJUE, G. G. TEUGELS, R. BIGORNE, R. ROMAND tivity range : 10-30 ~J.Scm-l) (WRIGHT, 1982 and hIast..acembelidae : (TRAVERS, 1984a.