Brycon
| Brycon Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Brycon hilarii | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Characiformes |
| Family: | Bryconidae |
| Subfamily: | Bryconinae |
| Genus: | Brycon J. P. Müller & Troschel, 1844[1] |
| Type species | |
| Brycon falcatus J. P. Müller & Troschel, 1844[1]
| |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Brycon is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Bryconidae, and order Characiformes. The fishes in this genus are found in Central and South America, ranging from southern Mexico to northern Argentina.[2] Despite not being closely related to true trout, they are sometimes called South American trout.[3] Members of the genus may be referred to by a number of other different common names in various languages. They reach a maximum length of 11.9–79.5 cm (4.7–31.3 in), depending on the species involved.[2] Some species perform seasonal breeding migrations.[4]
They feed heavily on fruits and seeds, but also take other plant material, invertebrates, and small fish.[5][6] Their food is typically taken from the water, but they are able to jump out of the water to "pluck" low-hanging seeds and fruits directly from trees.[3] Some seeds are crushed when eaten, but may also pass undamaged through the fish, making them seed dispersers.[3][5][6]
Brycon support important fisheries, and, based on a review by IBAMA, they are the fifth most caught fish by weight in the Brazilian Amazon.[4]
One fossil member of this genus is known in †Brycon avus (Woodward, 1898) from the Oligocene-aged Tremembé Formation of Brazil.[7][8] A slightly older potential specimen of B. avus is also known from the Late Eocene/Early Oligocene of the Aiuruoca Basin.[9]
Taxonomy
Cladistically, Brycon is a non-monophyletic genus; some of the species in this genus are actually genetically and morphologically closer to Chilobrycon and Henochilus than to the type species, Brycon falcatus. Thus, phylogenetic analyses using cladistics have rendered Brycon to be paraphyletic or even polyphyletic, and have recommended taxonomic review of the genus.[10][11] The clades within Brycon are grouped based on biogeographic evidence: in prehistory, vicariance lead to the speciation of a trans-Andean "Pacific clade" which also inhabits Central America; the other major clade is the cis-Andean + Magdalena-Cauca Basin clade which includes Brycon falcatus. The latter clades with species of Salminus and thus are closer to them than they are to the other Brycon clade.[12]
Species
Brycon contains the following valid species:[13]
- Brycon alburnus (Günther, 1860)
- Brycon amazonicus (Agassiz, 1829)
- Brycon argenteus Meek & Hildebrand, 1913
- Brycon atrocaudatus (Kner, 1863)
- Brycon behreae Hildebrand, 1938
- Brycon chagrensis (Kner, 1863)
- Brycon coquenani Steindachner, 1915
- Brycon costaricensis Angulo & Gracian-Negrete, 2013
- Brycon coxeyi Fowler, 1943
- Brycon dentex Günther, 1860
- Brycon devillei (Castelnau, 1855)
- Brycon dulcis Lima & Vieira, 2017
- Brycon falcatus J. P. Müller & Troschel, 1844
- Brycon ferox Steindachner, 1877
- Brycon fowleri Dahl, 1955
- Brycon gouldingi Lima, 2004
- Brycon guatemalensis Regan, 1908
- Brycon henni C. H. Eigenmann, 1913
- Brycon hilarii (Valenciennes, 1850)
- Brycon howesi Lima, 2017
- Brycon insignis Steindachner, 1877
- Brycon medemi Dahl, 1960
- Brycon meeki Eigenmann & Hildebrand, 1918
- Brycon melanopterus (Cope, 1872)
- Brycon moorei Steindachner, 1878
- Brycon nattereri Günther, 1864
- Brycon obscurus Hildebrand, 1938
- Brycon oligolepis Regan, 1913
- Brycon opalinus (Cuvier, 1819)
- Brycon orbignyanus (Valenciennes, 1850)
- Brycon orthotaenia Günther, 1864
- Brycon pesu J. P. Müller & Troschel, 1845
- Brycon petrosus Meek & Hildebrand, 1913
- Brycon polylepis Moscó Morales 1988
- Brycon posadae Fowler, 1945
- Brycon rubricauda Steindachner, 1879
- Brycon sinuensis Dahl, 1955
- Brycon stolzmanni Steindachner, 1879
- Brycon striatulus (Kner, 1863)
- Brycon unicolor Moscó Morales, 1988
- Brycon vermelha Lima & Castro, 2000
- Brycon vonoi Lima, 2017
- Brycon whitei Myers & Weitzman 1960
Cladogram
The following cladogram based on a 2014 maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree of Bryconidae.[14] It recovers the consensus that Brycon is not monophyletic as the genus encompasses multiple lineages:[12]
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References
- ^ a b c Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Bryconinae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
- ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Brycon". FishBase. October 2016 version.
- ^ a b c "Brycons". British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 3 December 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
- ^ a b Araujo-Lima, C.A.R.M.; and M.L. Ruffino (2003). Migratory Fishes of the Brazilian Amazon. Pp. 233—302 in: Carolsfeld, J.; B. Harvey; C. Ross; and A. Baer (editors). Migratory Fishes of South America. ISBN 0-9683958-2-1
- ^ a b Goulding, M (1980). The Fishes and the Forest: Explorations in Amazonian Natural History. University of California Press. pp. 68–100. ISBN 0-520-04131-3.
- ^ a b Reysa, P.; Sabino, J.; Galetti, M. (2009). "Frugivory by the fish Brycon hilarii (Characidae) in western Brazil". Acta Oecologica. 35 (1): 136–141. Bibcode:2009AcO....35..136R. doi:10.1016/j.actao.2008.09.007.
- ^ Abe, Kelly T.; Mariguela, Tatiane C.; Avelino, Gleisy S.; Foresti, Fausto; Oliveira, Claudio (2014-07-08). "Systematic and historical biogeography of the Bryconidae (Ostariophysi: Characiformes) suggesting a new rearrangement of its genera and an old origin of Mesoamerican ichthyofauna". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 14 (1): 152. Bibcode:2014BMCEE..14..152A. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-14-152. ISSN 1471-2148. PMC 4109779. PMID 25005252.
- ^ Malabarba, Maria Cláudia S. L. (1998). "Phylogeny of Fossil Characiformes and Paleobiogeography of the Tremembé Formation, São Paulo, Brazil.". Phylogeny and Classification of Neotropical Fishes. Part 1 - Fossils and Geological Evidence. pp. 69–84.
- ^ Malabarba, María Claudia de S. L. (2004). "On the paleoichthyofauna from the Aiuruoca Tertiary Basin, Minas Gerais State, Brazil". Ameghiniana (in Spanish). 41 (4): 515–519. ISSN 1851-8044.
- ^ Abe, Kelly T.; Mariguela, Tatiane C.; Avelino, Gleisy S.; Foresti, Fausto; Oliveira, Claudio (8 July 2014). "Systematic and historical biogeography of the Bryconidae (Ostariophysi: Characiformes) suggesting a new rearrangement of its genera and an old origin of Mesoamerican ichthyofauna". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 14 (152) 152. Bibcode:2014BMCEE..14..152A. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-14-152. PMC 4109779. PMID 25005252.
- ^ "A phylogenetic analysis of Brycon and Henochilus (Characiformes, Characidae, Bryconinae) based on the mitochondrial gene 16S rRNA". Genetics and Molecular Biology. 31 (1). 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
- ^ a b Márquez, Edna Judith; Gómez-Chavarría, Daniel Alfredo; Alzate, Juan Fernando (August 27, 2024). "Exploring the mitochondrial genomes and phylogenetic relationships of trans-Andean Bryconidae species (Actinopterygii: Ostariophysi: Characiformes)". PLOS ONE. 19 (8) e0300830. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0300830. PMC 11349099. PMID 39190628.
- ^ Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Brycon". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
- ^ Abe, Kelly T.; Mariguela, Tatiane C.; Avelino, Gleisy S.; Foresti, Fausto; Oliveira, Claudio (8 July 2014). "Systematic and historical biogeography of the Bryconidae (Ostariophysi: Characiformes) suggesting a new rearrangement of its genera and an old origin of Mesoamerican ichthyofauna". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 14 (152) 152. Bibcode:2014BMCEE..14..152A. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-14-152. PMC 4109779. PMID 25005252.