''Prochilodus lineatus'', the streaked prochilod, is a species of

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...

in the family

Prochilodontidae The Prochilodontidae, or flannel-mouthed characins, are a small family of freshwater fishes found primarily in the northern half of South America, south to Paraguay and northern Argentina. This family is closely related to the Curimatidae, and i ...

. It is native to the Paraná—

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to t ...

and

Paraíba do Sul The Paraíba do Sul (), or simply termed Paraíba, is a river in southeast Brazil. It flows west to northeast from its farthest source at the source of the river Paraitinga to the sea near Campos dos Goytacazes. The river receives its name whe ...

river basins in South America. It performs long breeding migrations and supports very important

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, ...

Local names

In Spanish its common name is ''sábalo''; in Brazil it receives the names ''curimbatá'', ''curimba'', ''corimbatá'' or ''grumatã''.In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

it is also known by the technical synonym ''Tarpon prochilodus''. There are mother species of fish with the common name '' sábalo''; ''P. lineatus'' is therefore distinguished sometimes as ''sábalo jetón'' (colloquial Spanish for "big-mouth") or ''chupabarro'' ("mud-sucker").

Appearance

''P. lineatus'' reaches up to in length and in weight. A common length is about . Its body is tall and compressed, greenish-gray (lighter in the belly), with yellowish green fins. Its mouth is circular and projects towards the front; it has two series of small teeth.

Behavior

This fish prefers deep waters and it is illiophagous, i.e. it sucks and eats organic mud, for which its mouth is especially adapted. This incidentally makes it difficult to fish with a bait. It migrates in large banks, looking for warm waters during the spring in order to lay its eggs.

In the Paraná River

''P. lineatus'' is considered the key species of the Paraná River, since it forms the base of the

food chain A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (such as grass or algae which produce their own food via photosynthesis) and ending at an apex predator species (like grizzly bears or killer whales), de ...

that ends with larger fish like the surubí catfish (''Pseudoplatystoma'') and golden dorado (''Salminus brasiliensis''). Regulations in place in Santa Fe and Entre Ríos, Argentina, have proven ineffective to preserve the species, which is being severely exploited, both for internal consumption and for

export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is a ...

. Experts estimate that capturing 20,000

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s of sábalo per year is the upper limit of

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

. Exports, however, of about 13,000 tonnes in 1998, grew to 34,000 tonnes in 2004, after the

depreciation In accountancy, depreciation is a term that refers to two aspects of the same concept: first, the actual decrease of fair value of an asset, such as the decrease in value of factory equipment each year as it is used and wear, and second, the ...

of the

Argentine peso The peso (established as the ''peso convertible'') is the currency of Argentina, identified by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using peso or dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 ''centavos''. Its ISO 4 ...

caused by the

economic crisis An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

tripled its local value. As the fish population dwindles, fishermen who depend on their captures for their livelihood are keeping smaller specimens, often not mature and which therefore have had no time to reproduce. Widespread disregard of prescribed net sizes and the presence of illegal processing plants, which the local governments do not control, have compelled

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scal ...

groups to protest. The issue turned into a jurisdiction conflict when Santa Fe tightened the regulations in 2005, forbidding the capture of sábalos under 42 cm long, while Entre Ríos kept the limit looser at 40 cm. On July 13, about 400 fishermen blocked the

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most p ...

access to the

Rosario-Victoria Bridge Rosario-Victoria Bridge (in Spanish, ''Puente Rosario-Victoria'') is the informal name of the physical connection between the Argentine cities of Rosario (province of Santa Fe) and Victoria (province of Entre Ríos). This roadlink is compos ...

that joins the two provinces. On August 1, after Entre Ríos matched its regulations with those of Santa Fe, 300 fishermen and freezing plant workers from Victoria did the same. They were pressured, according to certain claims, by the threat of

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refe ...

if their plants cannot fill their export quotas. In October 2006, largely to facilitate the reproduction of sábalo, the legislative branch of Santa Fe attempted to pass a temporary ban on commercial fishing in the Paraná. This ban was vetoed by the executive, as it had no counterpart in the neighbouring Entre Ríos. On 21 December 2006, the national government banned exports of fish of the Paraná River for eight months starting on 1 January 2007.
/ref>

References

Los Peces Que Tenemos
(in Spanish)

(in Spanish)

(in Spanish)
Fundación PROTEGER, Amigos de la Tierra, Argentina
(in Spanish, some documents in English) * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2702031 Fish of South America Freshwater fish of Argentina Prochilodontidae Taxa named by Achille Valenciennes Fish described in 1837