ANNOTATED LIST OF THE SPECIES 341 regardless of their liking, that is when alluding to the entire Amazon country. Beebe, however, (p. 481) reports that native Indian tribes (Guiana) do not like it; Whitney (p. 25) says that the Brazilians “look upon scaleless fishes such as it is with aversion, claiming that the flesh conduces to a fever,” (untrue in each of the three clauses). Gibbon states that pirarucv was, at the time of his visit in the 1850's, a Fic. 39. Continued. The veneering process. Each strip taken out in the precedingfigureisskillfullycutintoathinsheetfordrying.
entirely new to the Cuyabds of the Madeira. Nash rightly says (p. 80) “‘its flesh is to the inhabitants of the Amazon what beef is to central and southern Brazil.” I have many times seen the inhabitants of the Peruvian Amazons making preparations for a journey, or stopped for a chat with them while on a journey. Without exception somewhere about the canoe a roll of paiche was to be seen, together with a stewpan for cooking it, and either a bunch of green plantains, a bag of rice, or a bag of beans.
342 FISHES OF WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA Authors frequently allude to encounters with fishermen. I do not believe that I ever met a fisherman in the interior of South America, that is in a professional sense, although many persons take time from other occupations to do some fishing for home consumption, and even, of course, taking time for rather extensive trips to better fishing grounds. In fact, it is only when in need of meat that the urge overtakes the average individual, or when the rainy season begins to draw near. At other times it is difficult to persuade most men to forsake their usual pursuits, even for wages. The same remark may be made concerning the profession of shepherd in the mountain section. Sheep and llamas are kept and are herded, but the business of herding sheep is a family matter, except upon large sheep ranches. The inhabitants of Amazonia as one man are sensitive to the criticism of foreigners bestowed upon the piraructi; many times they ask a foreigner to say whether he regards it as the equal of the cod, in the dried state. In this I could well reassure them. The more forward-looking inhabitants are discussing the practicability of restoring the species to something like its pristine abundance by legislation and by the introduction of hatcheries or nurseries. In this they are thinking not only of a diminishing food supply, but they look forward to such increase that they will be able to export a dried or tinned product in competition with the fisheries of other parts of the world. The Loretan has much ground for criticism of the Government at Lima, he believes, and the matter of the neglected fisheries is one of them.
The most important Amazonian fish is one of the least known. _ Its life history, habits, food, migrations are not only unknown, but misinformation about them prevails, and a fertile subject for future study awaits someone. Now limited almost altogether to the more hidden and least inhabited backwater lakes, the inhabitants of the more populous navigable streams engage in seasonal fishing trips, sometimes of several weeks duration. On the shores of the bayoux they set up semipermanent camps, known in Brazil as fector/as (factories). These consist usually only of poles set in the ground in lieu of walls, and a substantial thatch. Hammocks swing from pole to pole, and the cooking fire is lighted in the center. Perishables hang from the pole rafters. The rising waters of the creciente, when the rainy season has begun at the headwaters, is the best time to work. At that time the paiche and various other species are traveling upstream into the bayoux and backwaters. (Fig. 20.) A favorite method of locating the prey consists in mounting guard over a barricade placed across the shallower passages in the cochas (lakes) or cavas (channels). The barricade is made of brush, palm fronds, and the like, thrust into the mud of the bottom. When the fish on its way upstream reaches the fence (see Fig. 33) it becomes a victim of the man poised in his canoe, harpoon in hand. _ I have elsewhere described the more elaborate weirs of more permanent form. (Figs. 25, 26.) While traveling up and down the rivers with the inhabitants, I noted that there is always much excitement when a paiche leaps, even at a distance. The paddlers forget to paddle, and every voice is heard together, ‘‘Paich’, paich’!”’ It is like the view-halloo at the fox-chase, or still more the ery of “whale” from the masthead and decks of the whaler. The natives taught me how to recognize the paiche leaping, even though it was half a mile distant, distinguishing it from several of the
ANNOTATED LIST OF THE SPECIES 343 larger Pimelodinae which are also leapers. This species launches itself straight upward clear of the water, then drops tail-foremost where it arose; and as it leaves the water, a spiral spray is thrown aloft by the tail in characteristic pattern. Near the home of many of the settlers, and near the fishing camps, drying platforms with poles for support, and with palm thatch, are erected. Here the paiche is prepared and spread out on sunny days to dry. In the preparation for drying, a rigid, standardized procedure is followed. First the fish is laid on the ground belly-downward. The operator then starts skinning on each side of the backbone, Fig. 40. Drying paiche. Veneer-like slabs of paiche-meat spread out on palm-branches for dryinginthesun;twostripssuspendedfromtheclothes-lineforphotographing.Thebanksofthe Ucayaliriverattheright.
laying the skin back on each side, and performing the remaining steps on the skin. The backbone is next removed, then the viscera, and the head. The meat is then divided into strips, not transversely as you would expect, but lengthwise of the entire fish. The epaxial and hypaxial muscle bundles are then split lengthwise into as many strips as the size warrants, six, eight, ten, or rarely twelve. The muscle bundles five to eight or nine feet long, several inches in diameter, are then laid lengthwise on a pole, shoulder high. Starting at one end, the operator with a sharp knife begins cutting the strip into a thin veneer, rotating it on the pole, and skilfully holding his blade so as to maintain a uniform thickness of a quarter-
344 FISHES OF WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA inch or so. When he has finished, the bundle has become a wide sheet of flesh, ready to be spread out on the drying racks. Much as in a wood-veneer the sheet is criss-crossed with odd grain-patterns where the myotomes and myocommata are cut across. (Text fig. 39.)
Fig. 41. Deck cargo of paiche meat. The dried strips are tied in rollsforshipmenttomarket.
The dried strips of flesh are rolled into bundles and stored in the farmhouse ware-room until needed for domestic use or until sold. Huckstering merchants, mostly from Iquitos, make more or less regular trips up and down all the main streams by steam-‘‘launch’’, bartering trade-goods for cotton, rubber, ivory-nuts, dried paiche, ete., and thus the surplus supply of the fish finds its way to the city market. At the time of my visit, no sanitary service existed in Loreto, and no
ANNOTATED LIST OF THE SPECIES 345 regulations concerning the marketing of dried fish. The bales of paiche-veneer, tied with hanas or strips of bark, were piled on the ground, or on the decks of the launches, with no more care than so many hides. The Brazilians, however, were obliged by law or custom to wrap their bundles in banana leaf or some such cover enroute to market. (Fig. 41.)
Beebe, through Mr. White, his principal informant, and an excellent observer, asserts that the ““warapaima”’ prefers the deeper holes of a stream-bed for its hidingplace.
I was shown nipple-like outgrowths about the head which the people believed to be found on the female alone, and which were supposed to be in the nature of mammary glands. It is more probable that they belong to the male than the female and might be a holdfast.
The species has certain other points of usefulness than as an article of food. In the early day, before the advent of kerosene in its five-gallon tin, and in the heyday of the fish, its oil was employed as an illuminant, along with that of the turtle egg. Here in this broad land of alluvial character, a land without mineral resources, the aboriginal tribes exhibit to this day certain cultural aspects older than the stone age, as, for example, the expedients by which they make up for the want of mineral materials for the arts and crafts. (This is mentioned under the account of the piranha.) The paiche’s toothed tongue and other bones of the mouth serve as a rasp for wood, and as a grater for the cassava root in the preparation of farinha. Order MICROCYPRINI Family XVIII: Poeciltidae Subfamily: FUNDULINAE Genus 194: RIVULUS Poey Rivulus Poey, 1858, Mem. Hist. Nat. Cuba, 307, 383; Eigenmann and Eigenmann, 1891, Proc. U. 8. Nat. Mus., XIV, 64; Eigenmann, 1910, Rept. Princeton Univ. Exped. Patagonia, III, 454; Eigenmann, 1912, Mem. Carnegie Mus., V, 452; Eigenmann, 1922, Mem. Carnegie Mus., IX, 183; Myers, 1927, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (9), XIX, 119; Myers, 1931, Stanford Univ. Publ. Biol. Sci., VI, 10.
Type: Rivulus cylindraceus Poey United States southward to Paraguay All fins rounded except for notched caudals of males of some species; head wider than deep; dorsal farther back than anal, and smaller; females more brightly colored than males; sexual dimorphism very pronounced.
The area which we have under consideration lies upon the southern or southeastern fringe of the range of the family, where it is represented by few genera. Partly due to this fact, and partly due to the inundated stages of small streams, our collections of the lowland Poeciliids were scanty. Yet from the reports on other collections in the area, the same statement could be made for all.
346 FISHES OF WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA 471. RivuLus pERUANUS Regan Aplocheilus peruanus Regan, 1903, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (7), XII, 626; Eigenmann, 1910, Rept. Princeton Univ. Exped. Patagonia, III, 454. Rivulus peruanus Regan, 1912, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (8), X, 496; Eigenmann, 1922, Mem. Carnegie Mus., IX, 183. Perim, Peru, elevation 800 m.
Simons collection taken near Huaraz, but I find no information as to the exact location of Perim, or whether it is on the Atlantic or Pacific slope; two specimens, types, 55 mm. long.
472. RivuLUS UROPHTHALMUsS Giinther Plate XXII, figs. 1 and 2 Rivulus urophthalmus Giinther, 1866, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., VI, 327; Regan, 1912, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (8), X, 498; Henn, 1916, Ann. Carnegie Mus., X, 110; Myers, 1927, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (9), XIX, 126. Rivulus brasiliensis FKigenmann (in part), 1910, Rept. Princeton Univ. Exped. Patagonia, III, 454.
Amazons and Guianas 16185,1,female,47mm.,brook,Iquitos,Allen,September,1920. 16186,1,male,49mm.,Yurimaguas,Allen,November,1920. 473. RivuLus MIcRopus (Steindachner) Fundulus micropus Steindachner, 1863, Sitzb. KI<. Akad. Wiss. Wien, XLVIII, 184; Cope, 1878, Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., XVII, 695. Rivulus micropus Eigenmann, 1910, Rept. Princeton Univ. Exped. Patagonia, III, 454; Regan, 1912, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (8), X, 500; Myers, 1927, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (9), XIX, 125. Trinidad, Venezuela, Rios Negro and Peruvian Amazon Subfamily: ORESTIATINAE Orestiasini,OrestiasiformesBleeker,1860,Ichth.Arch.Ind.,II,43;483. Orestiinae Regan, 1911, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (8), VII, 325; Orestiatinae Myers, 1931, Stanford Univ. Publ. Biol. Sci., VI, iii, 12. Genus 195: ORESTIAS Cuvier and Valenciennes Orestias Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1846, Hist. Nat. Poiss., XVIII, 221; Garman, 1895, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., XIX, 147; Pellegrin, 1904, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, X XIX, 92; Pellegrin,1906,Poiss.LacsHautsPlat.Amé4r.Sud,126. Type: Orestias cuviert Valenciennes Lake Chinchaycocha southward, Titicaca basin “Basisphenoid and opisthotic bones absent; post-temporal not forked, its upper limb joined to epiotic; parasphenoid without lateral process to alisphenoid;
ANNOTATED LIST OF THE SPECIES 347 an incipient myodome; teeth conical; pelvic fins absent; larger than most Cyprinodonts, often with forked or emarginate caudal fin.’ (Mvyers’ synopsis of the subfamily).
Figenmann (1920, Copeia no. 89) studied the possible affinities of the genus to Empetrichthys, of Nevada. Mainly on the structure of the pharyngeals and the mutual lack of ventral fins he found them so nearly alike as to warrant including J 4.
Fic. 42. Gigging for Orestias in Lake Umayo. In the highlands of Peru where no wood is produced,suchpolesastheboyinhomespunisusingmustbeimportedfromlowerelevations. Hencehiseconomyinmakingthepoleservebothforpropulsionandforfishing.Hisbulrushboat isofthesmallestsize.
them in the same genus. Both, he argues, were carried up to great elevations with the rise of their mountainous habitats from the sea. Both are the inhabitants of the quieter waters and unlikely to have invaded the highlands from below, unlike the Astroblepus and Pygidium of those waters with their great climbing ability. The juvenile stages of all the species are convergent, funduliform, while the adult fishes diverge, tending toward an upturned mouth, a widening and angularity of the shoulder region in some species; striate scales, sometimes smooth, in other
348 FISHES OF WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA cases tuberculate. In O. luteus I find the early stages most readily identifiable by a somewhat adult-like body form.
The genus is noteworthy for the great variation of scale-form, varying with the species, with body regions, and with age. The scales of the posterior and middle parts of the body tend toward the concentrically striate form. From about the eighth scale-row posterior to the opercular aperture forward to the head and upward to the nape the scales of most species are modified. In certain species they are thickened, enlarged, and polished to a luster rather than glossy; this type is often marked in part with pores. Another type is of a granular nature, nowhere smooth. The granules are small, tend to form definite rows around the posterior margins of the scales back to about eight rows beyond the opercle; each scale with scattered granules upon its surface elsewhere. There appears to be a definite correlation between the granular scalation and the heavier types of pharyngeal teeth, as though the mollusk-eating forms were subjected to more wear from rocky shores than other species. The special scale-forms do not become evident until the juvenile stages are outgrown, and increase with age. The scales of the head, the back, and those of the posterior part of the body are often deciduous, especially in the young, becoming firmer with age, and more regularly placed in rows. The specialized scales of the anterior regions, however, increase in size and decrease in number, losing their regularity.
Branchiostegal rays appear to be always 5. Fins are usually rather uniformly placed, generally broad, rounded, with the origin of the dorsal at almost exactly the middle point between the extremity of the opercle and the caudal base; the caudal is nearly always broad, but varies from slightly rounded to slightly concave, sometimes truncate; never deeply cleft. The anal is always about two rays behind the dorsal. The pectoral generally reaches about half way from its own base to the origin of the anal. Ventrals wanting in all species.
In a few species the anal fin is often found sharply deflected in the larger specimens toward the right, enclosing a space along the right side of its base. There is a fold of skin, apparently somewhat deciduous, running along the base of the rays. The first ray is more or less surrounded by the border of the genital pore. The whole apparatus appears to be an elementary mechanism for spawning or egglaying, and is associated with a backward-directed vent in forming an almost papillose, fleshy area.
Two types of fin-structure appear to prevail: a type of fin having generally longer, more slender rays, more deeply imbedded in skin, smooth, rigid, more mucoid; the other type with fins longer, rays shorter, less glandular, more flexible, darker, harsher to the touch.
The gonad appears always to be on the right side of the abdominal cavity, single, imperceptibly divided at the tip or not at all. In all the Valenciennes species except cuvieri, his figures convey an exaggerated idea of the size of the mouth and the degree of its elevation.
The gill-membranes are more or less united, the rakers a rather uniform series, small, simple, widely spaced; the pharyngeal teeth not variable, with a shoulder.