Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 January 2024 | 16(1): 24589–24596
ISSN 0974-7907
(Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8506.16.1.24589-24596
#8506 | Received 04 May 2023 | Finally accepted 27 December 2023
Fishes of Cocibolca,
the great Central American lake
Topiltzin Contreras-MacBeath
1, Byron Josue Rodríguez Pérez 2, Humberto Mejia-Mojica 3
& Juan Manuel Rivas-González 4
1,3 Laboratorio de Ictiología, Centro de Investigaciones
Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma
del estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad #1001. Col. Chamilpa, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México CP 62209.
2 Innovación Tecnológica y Servicios Ambientales, Kilómetro 152 Carretera Panamericana Norte,
Estelí, Nicaragua.
1,3,4 Labotarorio para
la Conservación de Biodiversidad
Dulceacuícola, Escuela de Estudios
Superiores del Jicarero,
UAEM.
1 Freshwater Conservation Committee, IUCN-SSC.
1 topis@uaem.mx (corresponding author), 2 byronrp83@hotmail.com,
3 humberto@uaem.mx, 4 manuel.rivas@uaem.mx
Editor: Anonymity requested. Date of
publication: 26 January 2024 (online & print)
Citation:
Contreras-MacBeath, T., B.J.R. Pérez, H. Mejia-Mojica
& J.M. Rivas-González (2024). Fishes of Cocibolca,
the great Central American lake. Journal of
Threatened Taxa 16(1):
24589–24596. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8506.16.1.24589-24596
Copyright: © Contreras-MacBeath et al. 2024. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Author details: Topiltzin Contreras-MacBeath is head of the Conservation Biology Research Group at The Autonomous University of Morelos and is also Co-Chair of the IUCN/SSC Freshwater Conservation Committee; Humberto Mejia Mojica is in charge of the Ichthyology laboratory of the Biology Research Center UAEM; and Juan
Manuel Rivas-González runs the Freshwater Conservation Laboratory at the School of Superior Studies UAEM, the three of the are Mexican Nationals. Byron
Josue Rodríguez Pérez is a Nicaraguan professor that runs a private Environmental Agency (InnovaciónTecnológica y Servicios Ambientales) in Nicaragua.
Author contributions: Topiltzin Contreras-MacBeath lead and coordinated the publication; Humberto Mejia Mojica and Juan Manuel Rivas-González helped integrate the species list. While Byron Josue Rodríguez Pérez contributed by gathering and reviewing local information from Nicaraguan sources.
Acknowledgements: We wish to thank Dr. Arturo Angulo from the Museo de Zoología,
Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Ecología Tropical
(CIBET), Universidad de Costa Rica, for reviewing the species list.
Abstract: The diversity of freshwater fish species
from Lake Cocibolca (Nicaragua) is presented, describing
the history of biological explorations in the lake from the first record in
1519, to the 52 species that are listed today. Information on current and
future threats is also included.
Keywords: Conservation, fishes, fisheries, history,
Nicaragua, threats.
Resumen: Se describe la diversidad
de peces del lago Cocibolca (Nicaragua), describiendo
la historia de las exploraciones
biológicas en el sitio desde el primer registro en 1519, hasta las 52 especies conocidas en la actualidad. Se incluye además información sobre las amenazas presentes y futuras.
A view of Central America from the
International Space Station reveals the majesty of Lake Nicaragua (Image 1),
known regionally as Cocibolca and recognized as the
19th largest lake in the world in terms of surface area (Routley 2019). Cocibolca is
considered the most important freshwater ecosystem of the Central American
Isthmus and is in the San Juan River Basin, which covers an area of 38,569 km2,
64% of the land area of the basin is in southern Nicaragua and 36% in northern
Costa Rica. The lake has a maximum length of 165 km, a maximum width of 70 km
and has a water volume of approximately 104,000 Hm3. It is located
at an altitude of 31 m and has an area of 8,264 km2, an average
depth of 13 m and a maximum depth of 40 m. In it there are numerous islands,
the main ones being: Ometepe, with an area of 275 km2
and a perimeter of 89 km; Zapatera, with an area of
53 km2 and a perimeter of 38 km; and the Solentiname
Archipelago with an area of 14 km2 and a perimeter of 44 km.
Fifty-one rivers flow into Lake Nicaragua: 15 on the western coast, 17 on the
eastern coast, and 19 on the southern coast. The main tributaries are the Malacatoya River and the Tipitapa
River on the northwestern coast; the Oyate River on
the east coast and the Frio, El Niño and Sapoá rivers
on the southern coast. Its only tributary is the San Juan River, which has a
length of 198 km and a discharge of approximately 250,000 liters per second.
The main ports of the lake are Granada, San Jorge, San Carlos, San Miguelito and Moyogalpa (Ometepe Island) (Incer 1976;
INFONAC 1976; Orellana 1983).
At the dawn of the Spanish colony, one of the
first historians in the region, Captain Don Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y
Valdés (1478–1557) narrates aspects of fishing in the lake and cites the
presence of marine species, including sharks and in a passage of his book XII,
chapter III, describes how one day in 1529 he finds a dead sawfish on the shore
of the lake (Villa 1976), in what represents the first ichthyological record
for Cocibolca. The first described species of the
lake was carried out by Albert Günther of the British Museum of Natural
History, and it was Heros labiatus, which we now know is Amphilophus
labiatus (Günther 1864a). In a second
publication, the same author (Günther 1864b) describes four new species (now
recognized as Amphilophus citrinellus, Hypsophrys
nicaraguensis, Parachromis
dovii and Gobiomorus
dormitor) and mentions nine fish species for the
Lake. In their synopsis of Lake Nicaragua, Gill & Bransford (1878) list 21
species, while Meek (1907) brings the number of species present in the Lake to
35. For the second part of the last century, there are outstanding
contributions by Astorqui (1972) who describes the
presence of 45 species and a few years later, Villa (1976) recognizes 41
species.
Based on the afore mentioned studies, as well
as some more recent ones in which the ichthyofauna of Lake Cocibolca
is mentioned (INFONAC 1976; Orellana 1983; McKaye et
al. 1995; Hernández 2007; Bussing 2008; Hernández & Corea
2013) and through the review of fish records for the lake contained in the Global
Biodiversity Information Facility using the GeoCat®
geospatial tool, we obtained a list containing 52 species, placed in 16
families and 34 genera. Four of these species are invasive (Table 1). In terms
of richness, the families Cichlidae stand out with 15
species, as well as Characidae and Poeciliidae with nine species each, which represents 63% of
the total (Image 2). The only species endemic to the lake is Axtyanax cocibolca,
described by Bussing (2007), with specimens collected by Jaime Villa & Montserrat
Llobert near Granada. The ichthyofauna of Lake Cocibolca reflects what occurs in the Central American
region, being represented by primary, secondary and peripheral species. Despite
the distance of the lake to the coast (198 km) it is important to highlight the
presence of three species of elasmobranchs: the Bull
Shark Carcharhinus leucas, and two
species of sawfish—Pristis pristis and P. pectinata.
From the point of view of conservation
status, based on Red List data (IUCN 2023), there are seven species at risk,
two of them Critically Endangered (Pristis pristis and P. pectinata),
and the remaining five are Vulnerable (Megalops atlanticus,
Carlana eigenmanni,
Atherinella sardina,
Phallichthys tico,
and Xenophallus umbratilis).
Five species were listed as ‘Near Threatened’ and 28 in the ‘Least Concern’
category. It was not possible to assign a risk category to five species due to
lack of data, including the only endemic species (Astyanax cocibolca) and finally, three species were Not
Evaluated (Table 1).
Although originally the sharks of the Lake
were described as an endemic species (Eulamia
nicaraguensis), later studies with sharks tagged
in the Nicaraguan and Costa Rican coasts, showed that it was the Zambesi Shark Carcharhinus Leucas, which makes migrations
between the sea and the lake and vice versa (Thorson 1971). In this study it
was also found that it took the sharks 2–25 days to go up the 198 km of the
river, as well as 7–11 days to go downstream, back to the ocean and a specimen
was found that made the trip back to the sea in just one day.
Lacustrine way of life was very important in
pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture (Williams 2014), since, in many lakes, as in
the case of Lake Cocibolca, the capture of fish and
any other aquatic species, including birds and reptiles, as well as the use of
alluvial lands for agriculture was fundamental for food (Image 3). Currently,
the Lake Cocibolca Basin has an approximate
population of 750,000 inhabitants and represents an important agricultural
production area and is home to one of the main tourist attractions of the
country, the colonial city of Granada and the Island of Ometepe
(Banco Mundial 2013). Given its size as well as its location in Nicaragua, the
lake continues to be a strategic resource for the country because economic
activities such as fishing, and tourism are developed in it and its waters are
used for human consumption, agriculture, and navigation (Salvatierra
2016).
Due to the multiplicity of uses that have
been given to the lake and its biodiversity, as well as the large number of
people living in its territory, or in areas close to it, there are a series of
environmental impacts that have been identified and that were described in
detail in a study carried out by the World Bank in 2013. These are briefly
described below: Diffuse pollution, evidenced by a high sedimentation
rate, which has a value of 13.3 tons per ha and is the result of deforestation
of the catchment basin for the development of agricultural activities, which
could cause eutrophication of the lake by the increase in the load of
nutrients, mainly nitrogen and phosphorus contained in the sediments. They also
find that a water imbalance (increased precipitation) caused by climate change
could increase the severity of this threat. Point pollution in the form of
discharge of urban and industrial wastewater with poor treatment or untreated.
They found that spot bacteriological contamination near the beaches of Grenada
and other lake populations limits recreational opportunities and is likely
harmful to health. Pollution from tilapia farming, which has different and
perhaps more damaging effects on the Lake than nutrient runoff caused by
agricultural activities and soil erosion, is also mentioned, although precise
data on the impact of this activity are not given.
As mentioned above, fishing has always been
an important activity for the communities settled on the shores of Lake Cocibolca, one of the first records in the literature of
this activity is that of Ephraim George Squire, who in 1852 cites that in lakes
Managua and Nicaragua there is a great variety of fish that are caught by the
communities of the banks (Villa 1976).
In one of the sections of his publication, this same author narrates how
the women of the community fish sardines with spoon nets and then cook them in
the form of omelet. In a study on the fishery resources of Lake Nicaragua
carried out in the 70s, it was found that the fishing production of artisanal
origin in the lake amounted to 680,388 kg and the most caught species were the
Gaspar Atractosteus tropicus,
the Mojarra and Guapote Cichlids, as well as the Sawfish, of which an average
of 90 kg per fisherman per week was fished (INFONAC 1976). For his part, Davies
(1976) includes in the list of species of fishing importance the Sabalo Megalops atlanticus.
In an evaluation of the fishery resources of
Lake Cocibolca carried out by the Fisheries Research
Center of the Nicaraguan Fisheries Institute between October 1982 and May 1983,
31 fish species were identified, six of which are dominant in terms of biomass,
with 82.7% of the catch (Orellana 1983). In this study, the Moga
Hypsophrys nicaraguensis
dominated with 19.8% of the catch, followed by the Red-breasted Mojarra Cribroheros longimanus)
with 16.5%, the Mojarra Amphilophus citrinellus with 16%, the Machaca Brycon
guatemalensis with 13.7%, the Sabalete
Dorosoma chavesi
with 10.5%, and the Gaspar Atractosteus tropicus with 6.2%.
An example of the negative impact of fishing
activity relates to the three elasmobranch species of Lake Cocibolca,
the Bull Shark Carcharhinus leucas, and
the sawfishes Pristis pristis
and P. pectinata, which were traditionally
fished in the lake in an artisanal way, but that as a result of the
establishment in Granada in the early
70s of an industrial fishery that included a processing plant for shark meat
and fins, as well as two boats and the hiring of 50 fishermen (Image 4). The
installed storage capacity of both vessels was 8,409 kg, however, the number of
fish (mainly sawfish fillets) delivered weekly to the processing plant did not
exceed 2,275 kg and the plant focused on the processing of Gaspar, Mojarras,
and Guapotes (Davies 1976). According to Thorson (1982), sawfish populations
decreased considerably in the lake because of industrial fishing, and despite
efforts by the Nicaraguan fishing authority, due to of poaching, this situation
could not be controlled and some authors assume that these species have
disappeared from the lake (McCrary et al. 2007;
Poulakis & Grubbs 2019),
which is unfortunate since both sawfish species are Critically Endangered
globally and because they bred in the Lake (Thorson 1982), Cocibolca
represented a true sanctuary for them. To conserve these species in Cocibolca, the Government of Nicaragua included a total ban
of these species in the Fisheries and Aquaculture Law (489), article 75,
published on 27 December 2004, however, it seems that this regulation has not
had a significant benefit on elasmobranch.
Despite the diversity of native fish species
as well as the fishing use that has traditionally been given to these fish
species, Lake Cocibolca was not spared from the
introduction of invasive fish. Since the 16th century and with total
ignorance, Oviedo suggested to the original inhabitants of the lake the need to
introduce fish, since in his way of seeing things, “there is no fish of any
kind in it, but some fishmongers as small as cabo de agujetas, which cannot be eaten because they are so often
better than in egg tortillas” (Villa 1976). In the early 80s three species of
tilapias—Oreochromis niloticus, O. mossambicus,
and O. aureus—were introduced in Cocibolca
with the idea of developing aquaculture and improving fishing (McKaye et al. 1995). In 2003, the Nicaraguan Government
granted an authorization to the company NICANOR, for the production of tilapia
in floating cages in 86.87 ha of the lake, in the community of San Ramón, Ometepe Island, however, as a non-native species of the
lake, the intrusion of tilapia represents a threat to biodiversity and ecosystem
health (Banco Mundial 2013). In this sense, when evaluating the status of
tilapia in Nicaragua, McCrary et al. (2007) found that they
have been successfully established in the Lake and that their presence
corresponds to a reduction in the presence of native species in local markets.
From 2003, the fishermen of the lake began to find Plecos of the Loricaridae family (INPESCA 2008) that according to
Hernández & Corea (2012) are increasingly
abundant in catches.
One of the most pressing threats to Lake Cocibolca is perhaps the interest in building a
transoceanic canal like that of Panama, which could irreversibly impact the
ichthyofauna of the lake, a situation that has been discussed by several
authors (Huete-Pérez et al. 2013, 2015, 2016; Härer et al. 2017). Within the country this issue has also
been much discussed, Salvatierra (2016) describes how
the public interest, indigenous and local communities, NGOs and organizations
such as the Association of Municipalities of the Great Lake Basin (AMUGRAN),
have promoted policies for the integrated and sustainable management of Cocibolca, which have led to legislative reforms such as
the General Law of National Waters (620), published in 2007, article 96 of
which provides that, “It is in the social interest to ensure the quality of
national bodies of water, through the promotion and implementation of the
measures and actions necessary for their due and permanent protection and
conservation”; Article 97 “prohibits the introduction and cultivation of exotic
and invasive species in Lake Cocibolca” and that
“Lake Cocibolca should be considered as a natural
reserve of drinking water, being of the highest national interest and priority
for national security”. On the other hand, Law 699 approved in 2009, which creates
the “Commission for Sustainable Development of the Water Basin of Lakes Apanás, Xolotlán and Cocibolca and the San Juan River”, whose axis is the
formulation of the Integral Management Plan of the Basin of the Great Lakes of
Nicaragua, under the model of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). Salvatierra (2016) comments that in contradiction with
these legal commandments in 2012 Law 800 “Law of the Legal Regime of the Grand
Interoceanic Canal of Nicaragua and the Creation of the Authority of the
Grand Interoceanic Canal of Nicaragua” is published, without incorporating any
reference to the provisions contained in laws 620 and 699.
Although many of the concerns on the part of
environmentalists have not been resolved, with a cost of more than 50 billion
dollars, the construction of the canal by the Chinese company HK Nicaragua
Development Investment (HKND) officially began in 2014, however, the stock
market crisis that hit China between 2015 and 2016 made it lose 85% of his
patrimony to Wang Jing, communications tycoon and main investor of HKND, with
which the project has been suspended, but the State of Nicaragua maintains its
willingness to continue it (Sputnik
2020).
We do not know what the fate of Lake Cocibolca and its impressive ichthyofaunal diversity will
be, either with or without the transoceanic canal. What is clear is that the
future of Nicaragua and its people, but especially of that with a lacustrine
way of life, is linked to the future of its great lake (Image 5).
Table 1. Updated list of
fish species present in Lake Cocibolca,
showing its Red List Category.
|
Family |
Species |
Common name |
Category |
|
Carcharinidae |
Carcharhinus leucas (Muller & Henle, 1839) |
Bull Shark, Tiburon Toro |
NT |
|
Pristidae |
Pristis pectinata Latham, 1794 |
Smalltooth Sawfish, Pez Sierra |
CR |
|
|
Pristis pristis (Linnaeus, 1758) |
Largetooth Sawfish, Pez Sierra |
CR |
|
Lepisosteidae |
Atractosteus tropicus Gill, 1863 |
Gaspar, Gar |
LC |
|
Megalopidae |
Megalops atlanticus Valenciennes, 1847 |
Tarpon, Sabalo
Real |
VU |
|
Clupeidae |
Dorosoma chavesi Meek, 1907 |
Nicaragua Gizzard Shad, Sabalete,
Sandillero |
NT |
|
Characidae |
Astyanax aeneus (Günther, 1860) |
Banded Tetra |
LC |
|
|
Astyanax bransfordii (Gill, 1877) |
Sabalito |
NT |
|
|
Astyanax cocibolca Bussing, 2008 |
Sardina |
DD |
|
|
Astyanax nasutus Meek, 1907 |
Sardina Lagunera |
DD |
|
|
Brycon guatemalensis Regan, 1908 |
Machaca, Sabalete,
Macabi |
LC |
|
|
Carlana eigenmanni (Meek, 1912) |
Sardinita |
VU |
|
|
Hyphessobrycon tortuguerae Böhlke, 1958 |
Sardinita |
LC |
|
|
Roeboides bouchellei Fowler, 1923 |
Crystal Tetra |
LC |
|
|
Roeboides guatemalensis (Günther, 1864) |
Guatemalan Headstander |
NT |
|
Pimelodidae |
Rhamdia quelen (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) |
Catfish, Chulin Barbudo |
LC |
|
|
Rhamdia nicaraguensis (Günther, 1864) |
Bagre |
LC |
|
Gobiidae |
Gobiomorus dormitor Lacèpede, 1800 |
Bigmouth Sleeper, Guavina |
LC |
|
|
Gobiomorus maculatus (Günther, 1859) |
Pacific Sleeper |
LC |
|
Synbrinchidae |
Synbranchus marmoratus Bloch, 1795 |
Marbled Swamp Eel, Anguila |
LC |
|
Centropomidae |
Centropomus parallelus Poey, 1860 |
Fat Snook, Robalo |
LC |
|
Cichlidae |
Amatitlania nigrofasciata (Günther, 1867) |
Convict Cichlid, Mojarra |
DD |
|
|
Amatitlania septemfasciata (Regan, 1908) |
Mojarra |
LC |
|
|
Amphilophus citrinellus (Günther, 1864) |
Midas Cichlid, Mojarra |
LC |
|
|
Amphilophus labiatus (Günther, 1864) |
Red Devil, Labiata |
NE |
|
|
Archocentrus centrarchus (Gill, 1877) |
Flier Cichlid, Mojarrita
Rayada |
LC |
|
|
Cribroheros longimanus (Günther, 1867) |
Red-breasted Cichlid, Mojarra pechito rojo |
LC |
|
|
Cribroheros rostratus (Gill, 1877) |
Carate, Masamiche |
LC |
|
|
Cryptoheros spilurus (Günther, 1862) |
Blue-eye Cichlid |
DD |
|
|
Herotilapia multispinosa (Günther, 1867) |
Rainbow Cichlid, Mojarrita |
LC |
|
|
Hypsophrys nematopus (Günther, 1867) |
Poor Man's Tropheus,
Picaculo |
NE |
|
|
Hypsophrys nicaraguensis (Günther, 1864) |
Butterfly Cichlid, Moga |
LC |
|
|
Parachromis dovii (Günther, 1864) |
Guapote |
LC |
|
|
Parachromis friedrichsthalii (Heckel, 1840) |
Monarch Cichlid |
LC |
|
|
Parachromis managuensis (Günther, 1867) |
Jaguar Guapote, Guapote Tigre |
LC |
|
|
Vieja maculicauda (Regan, 1905) |
Blackbelt Cichlid, Vieja |
LC |
|
Atherinidae |
Atherinella sardina (Meek, 1907) |
Sardina Plateada |
VU |
|
Cyprinodontidae |
Cynodonichthys isthmensis (Garman, 1895) |
Rivulinos |
LC |
|
Poeciliidae |
Alfaro cultratus (Regan, 1908) |
Pepesca |
LC |
|
|
Belonesox belizanus Kner, 1860 |
Top Minnow |
LC |
|
|
Brachyrhaphis holdridgei Bussing, 1967 |
Olomina |
NT |
|
|
Gambusia nicaraguensis Gunther, 1866 |
Nicaraguan Mosquitofish |
LC |
|
|
Phallichthys amates (Miller, 1907) |
Merry Widow Livebearer, Olomina |
LC |
|
|
Phallichthys tico Bussing, 1963 |
Olomina |
VU |
|
|
Poecilia gillii (Kner, 1863) |
Gill's Molly, Pepesca |
DD |
|
|
Poeciliopsis turrubarensis (Meek, 1912) |
Barred Livebearer |
LC |
|
|
Xenophallus umbratilis (Meek, 1912) |
Olomina |
VU |
|
Haemulidae |
Pomadasys croco (Cuvier, 1830) |
Burro Grunt, Roncador |
NE |
|
INVASIVES |
|||
|
Loricaridae |
Hypostomus sp. |
Pleco |
|
|
Cichlidae |
Oreochromis niloticus |
Tilapia |
|
|
|
Oreochromis mossambicus |
Tilapia |
|
|
|
Oreochromis aureus |
Tilapia |
|
For
images - - click here for full PDF
References
Astorqui, I. (1972). Peces de la cuenca
de los grandes lagos de Nicaragua. Rev. BioI.
Trop. 19:7-57 (Vol. 19 dated 1971).
Banco Mundial (2013). Prioridades de Política e Inversión para reducir la degradación ambiental de la cuenca del Lago
de Nicaragua (Cocibolca)-Los principales
desafíos ambientales. Serie
de publicaciones ocasionales,
Medio ambiente y Recursos Hídricos. Región de América
Latina y el Caribe, Documento No. 76886. The World
Bank, Washington DC, USA.
Bussing, W.A. (2008). Astyanax cocibolca,
a new characid (Pisces: Ostariophysi) from Lake
Nicaragua, Central America. Revista de Biologia Tropical 56(3): 1361–1370.
Davies, W.D. (1976). Lake Nicaragua fishery resources.
Investigations of the ichthyofauna of Nicaraguan Lakes, 16 pp.
Gill, T. & J.F.
Bransford (1878). Synopsis of the fishes of Lake Nicaragua. Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia 29: 175–191.
Günther, A. (1864a). On some new species of Central American
fishes. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1864: 23–27.
Günther, A. (1864b). Report of a collection of fishes made by Mssrs. Dow, Godman, and Salvin in
Guatemala. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1864:
144–154.
Härer, A., J. Torres-Dowdall & A. Meyer (2017). The imperiled fish fauna in the Nicaragua
Canal zone. Conservation Biology 31: 86–95.
Hérnández, F.G.M. & A.J.T. Corea (2013). Distribución y Abundancia de Peces de la Familia
Loricariidae (Pleco) y su relación con los Peces de la Familia Ciclhidae (Cíclidos) en la Isla de Ometepe, febrero-agosto 2012. Tesis de Licenciatura Biología. Facultad de Ciencias y Tecnología. Departamento de Biología.
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua- León, 111
paginas.
Hernández, P.A. (2007). Abundancia relativa de los peces en la costa oriental del
Lago de Nicaragua. INPESCA. 1ed. Managua: MARENA, 117 pp.
Huete-Perez, J.A., A. Meyer & P.J. Alvarez (2015). Rethink the Nicaragua canal. Science
347: 355.
Huete-Pérez, J.A., M. Ortega-Hegg, G.R. Urquhart,
A.P. Covich, K. Vammen,
B.E. Rittmann, J.C. Miranda, S. Espino-za-Corriols, A. Acevedo &
M.L. Acosta (2016). Critical uncertainties and gaps in the environmental-and social-impact
assessment of the proposed interoceanic canal through Nicaragua. BioScience 66: 632–645.
Huete-Pérez, J.A., J.G. Tundisi & P.J.J.
Alvarez (2013). Will
Nicaragua’s interoceanic canal result in an environmental catastrophe for
Central America? Environmental Science & Technology 47: 13217–13219.
Incer, J. (1976). Geography of Lake Nicaragua. Investigations of the Ichthyofauna of
Nicaraguan Lakes. 2.
INFONAC (1976). “Informe Sobre Los
Resultados Del Programa de Investigacion de los Recursos Pesqueros Del Lago de
Nicaragua”. Investigations of the Ichthyofauna of Nicaraguan Lakes. 17.
Instituto de Fomento Nacional. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ichthynicar/17
INPESCA (2008). Revisión preliminar para la identificación
de la especie de pez exótico reportado recientemente en el lago Cocibolca de Nicaragua. Febrero, 2008.
IUCN (2023). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Version 2023-1. https://www.iucnredlist.org. Accessed on 02 March 2023.
McCrary, J.K., B.R.
Murphy, J.R. Stauffer & S.S. Hendrix (2007). Tilapia (Teleostei:
Cichlidae) status in Nicaraguan natural waters. Environmental
Biology of Fishes 78: 107–114.
McKaye, K.R., J.D. Ryan, J.R., Stauffer Jr, L.J.L. Perez, G.I. Vega & E.P.
van den Berghe (1995). African tilapia in Lake Nicaragua. BioScience 45(6): 406–411.
Meek, S.E. (1907). Synopsis of the fishes of the great lakes of
Nicaragua. Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 7(4): 97–132.
Orellana, F. (1983). Evaluación de los recursos pesqueros
del Lago Nicaragua. Centro de Investigacines Pesqueras. Instituto Nicaragüense
de Investigaciones Pesqueras,
INPESCA. Managua, Nicaragua http://www.fao.org/fishery/docs/CDrom/aquaculture/a0844t/docrep/008/AD772S/AD772S11.htm.
Accessed on 21 July 2021.
Poulakis, G.R. & R.D
Grubbs (2019).
Biology and ecology of sawfishes: global status of research and future outlook.
Endangered Species Research 39: 77–90.
Routley, N. (2019). The World’s 25 Largest Lakes, Side by Side. Visualcapitalist.com https://www.visualcapitalist.com/worlds-25-largest-lakes/.
Accessed on 22 July 2021.
Salvatierra, S.T. (2016). El valor del agua del Gran Lago Cocibolca para Nicaragua. Temas
Nicaragüenses 95(1): 39–59.
Sputnik, T.L. (2020). Canal de Nicaragua, el viejo
sueño interoceánico que se resiste a morir. El Pais.cr. 10
Julio (https://www.elpais.cr/2020/07/10/canal-de-nicaragua-el-viejo-sueno-interoceanico-que-se-resiste-a-morir/).
(21, jul. 2021).
Thorson, T.B. (1971). Movement of bull sharks, Carcharhinus
leucas, between Caribbean Sea and Lake Nicaragua demonstrated by tagging. Copeia 1971(2): 336–338.
Thorson, T.B. (1982). The impact of commercial exploitation on
sawfish and shark populations in Lake Nicaragua. Fisheries 7(2): 2–10.
Villa, J., (1976). “Some Speculations About “The Great
Nicaraguan Lake”” Investigations of the Ichthyofauna of Nicaraguan Lakes. 13.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ichthynicar/13
Williams, E. (2014). El modo de vida lacustre en
Mesoamérica a través del tiempo, pp. 151–176. En: Conde
Flores, Alberto (Coord.). Sobre sistemas complejos. El pretendido fin.
Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala.