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Cenotes biotope, a freshwater habitat in the forests of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico
BIOTOPE AQUARIA
A biotope aquaria is an aquarium that is set-up to simulate a natural habitat. The fish, plants, water chemistry, and furnishings are similar to those that can be found in a specific natural setting.
The Yucatan peninsula has virtually no surface streams due ot its limestone foundation -- a relic of its past life as coral reef on the bottom of the ocean. Ground water sinks through the porous limestone and travels to the sea in underground rivers and caves (formed from millenia of acidified water dissolving conduits in the limestone). To date, almost sixty cave systems with more than 300 miles of passageways have been discovered.
These underwater streams can be accessed through cenotes, sinkholes in the surface limestone. Below you will find pictures from a surface cenote and a cave cenote. Because the water is mineral rich and remarkably clear, plant growth is especially vigorous. The plants you see in these pictures are a Chara, or freshwater macroalgae, species. Chara is also known as "stonewort."
Fish
In the photos below you will find tetras, mollies, and catfish. Cenotes are also home to some of the following species:
Characidae
Astyanax fasciatus
Cichlids
Archocentrus octofasciatus
'Cichlasoma' urophthalmus
'Cichlasoma' synspilum
Parachromis friedrischstahli
Thorichthys meeki
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Cupleidae
Dorosoma sp.
Pimelodidae
Rhamdia guatemalensis
Poecilidae
Gambusia yucatana
Poecilia mexicana
Rivulidae
Rivulus tenuis
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[Other pictures from the Mexican Yucatan: caribbean | reefs | cenotes caves | lagoon | tulum | cancun region]
Except where noted, all images are the property of Rhett A. Butler, copyright 1994-2004. Contact me with questions regarding use, reproduction, or purchase of any of the pictures.
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Other Biotope Resources
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Recent news
New Yangtze River dam could doom more endangered species
(06/22/2009)
Eight Chinese environmentalists and scientists have composed a letter warning that a new dam under consideration for the Yangtze River could lead to the extinction of several endangered species. The letter contends that Xiaonanhia Dam, which would be 30 kilometers upstream from the city of Chongqing, will negatively impact the river’s only fish reserve. Spanning 400 kilometers in the upper Yangtze, the reserve is home to 180 fish species, including the Endangered Chinese sturgeon, and the Critically Endangered Chinese paddlefish, as well as the finless porpoise.
Fish take less than a decade to evolve
(06/22/2009)
Evolution is often thought of being a slow-process, taking thousands, if not millions, of years. However a new study in The American Naturalist found that Trinidadian guppies underwent evolution in just eight years, or thirty generations. Less than a decade ago Swanne Gordon, a graduate student at UC Riverside, and her team introduced Trinidadian guppies into the Damier River in the Caribbean island of Trinidad. They placed the guppies above a waterfall to allow them to flourish in a largely predator-free environment.
Madfish?: scientist warns that farmed fish could be a source of mad cow disease
(06/17/2009)
In a paper that shows just how strange our modern world has become, Robert P. Friedland, neurologist from the University of Louisville, warns that farmed fish could be at risk of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease, or mad cow disease.
New report predicts dire consequences for every U.S. region from global warming
(06/17/2009)
Government officials and scientists released a 196 page report detailing the impact of global warming on the U.S. yesterday. The study, commissioned in 2007 during the Bush Administration, found that every region of the U.S. faces large-scale consequences due to climate change, including higher temperatures, increased droughts, heavier rainfall, more severe weather, water shortages, rising sea levels, ecosystem stresses, loss of biodiversity, and economic impacts.
Will jellyfish take over the world?
(06/16/2009)
It could be a plot of a (bad) science-fiction film: a man-made disaster creates spawns of millions upon millions of jellyfish which rapidly take over the ocean. Humans, starving for mahi-mahi and Chilean seabass, turn to jellyfish, which becomes the new tuna (after the tuna fishery has collapsed, of course). Fish sticks become jelly-sticks, and fish-and-chips becomes jelly-and-chips. The sci-fi film could end with the ominous image of a jellyfish evolving terrestrial limbs and pulling itself onto land—readying itself for a new conquest.
Marine scientist calls for abstaining from seafood to save oceans
(06/08/2009)
In April marine scientist Jennifer Jacquet made the case on her blog Guilty Planet that people should abstain from eating seafood to help save life in the ocean. With fish populations collapsing worldwide and scientists sounding warnings that ocean ecosystems—as edible resources—have only decades left, it is perhaps surprising that Jacquet’s call to abstain from consuming seafood is a lone voice in the wilderness, but thus far few have called for seafood lovers to abstain.
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