The icthyofauna (Teleostei) of the Rio Caeté estuary, northeast Pará, Brazil, with a species identification key from northern Brazilian coast ALEXANDRE P. MARCENIUK1, RODRIGO A. CAIRES2, MATHEUS MARCOS ROTUNDO3, RAFAEL A. K. DE ALCÂNTARA1 & WOLMAR B. WOSIACKI1 1Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Pará, Brazil. 2Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. 3Acervo Zoológico da Universidade Santa Cecília, Santos, São Paulo, Brazil. *Corresponding author:
[email protected] Abstract. Faunal inventories are a direct strategy for assessing biodiversity and evaluating a region’s potential for scientific and commercial purposes. However, marine fish have been adequately inventoried in few regions of the world. Despite their biogeographic, ecological and commercial importance, the fish fauna of the northeastern Brazilian coast is the least studied and sampled within the Brazilian Exclusive Economic Zone. Here, the icthyofauna of the rio Caeté estuary is evaluated based on material deposited in zoological collections, partly as a result of recent inventory efforts. This research effort resulted in the documentation of 120 species of Teleostei belonging to 16 orders and 48 families identified by examining 22,295 specimens distributed among 1,086 collection lots. Complementing this work, we discuss the lack of taxonomic knowledge about the marine fish of the north coast of Brazil and the resulting challenges for carrying out biogeographic and conservation research in the region. Hoping to improve this situation we provide a taxonomic key for the fish species of the Caeté estuary and the coastal species registered from the northern Brazilian coast. Key Words: Biological inventories, biodiversity, biogeography, taxonomic impediment, conservation Resumo. A ictiofauna (Teleostei) do rio Caeté, nordeste do Pará, Brasil.