Fish distribution patterns and habitat availability in lakes Moreno Esteand Moreno Oeste, Patagonia, Argentina

MAGALÍ RECHENCQ; PABLO HORACIO VIGLIANO; PATRICIO JORGE MACCHI; GUSTAVO ENRIQUE LIPPOLT

LIMNOLOGICA

ELSEVIER GMBH

Año: 2014 vol. 49 p. 73 - 83

0075-9511

Andean Patagonian lakes are ultraoligotrophic and deep, have simple food webs and low fish diversityand abundance. In this work the distributional abundance data of fish was studied in two intercon-nected Andean Patagonian lakes with varying proportions of contrasting habitat types. Hydroacousticdata (120 kHz) were used to analyze fish abundance and habitat use during the mixis and stratificationperiods. Three types of habitat (near shore, surface pelagic and deep pelagic) and two groups of fish,based on size (Big Fish >12 cm total length and Fish Larvae and Small Fish