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Colossoma macropomum (Cuvier, 1816)

Cachama
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Colossoma macropomum
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Characiformes (Characins) > Serrasalmidae (Piranhas and pacus) > Colossomatinae
Etymology: Colossoma: Greek, kolos = short, truncated + Greek, soma = body (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Cuvier.

Issue
See Machado-Allison 1982: 42, Géry 1986: 97 and Machado-Allison 1986: 2 for detailed description. See Goulding & Carvalho 1982 and Araujo Lima & Goulding 1997 for general biology and management. See Loubens & Panfili 1997 for growth biology.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; benthopelagic; pH range: 5.0 - 7.8; dH range: ? - 20; potamodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 5 - ? m. Tropical; 22°C - 28°C (Ref. 1672); 15°S - 35°S

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

South America: Amazon and Orinoco basins as wild form; pisciculture form largely distributed in South America.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?, range 24 - ? cm
Max length : 108 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 40637); common length : 70.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9987); max. published weight: 40.0 kg (Ref. 72380)

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

This species is usually solitary. Adults stay in flooded forests during first 5 months of flooding and consume but fruits and grains. Young and juveniles live in black waters of flood plains until their sexual maturity. Feeds on zooplankton, insects, snails and decaying plants (Ref. 32894). Used in aquaculture because it can live in mineral poor waters and is very resistant to diseases. Marketed fresh and frozen (Ref. 9987).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Géry, J., 1977. Characoids of the world. Neptune City ; Reigate : T.F.H. [etc.]; 672 p. : ill. (chiefly col.) ; 23 cm. (Ref. 598)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)

Not Evaluated 

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Traumatogenic





Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; aquaculture: commercial; gamefish: yes; aquarium: public aquariums
FAO - Aquaculture systems: production; Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
Spawning
Spawning aggregations
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Gill area
Brain
Otolith
Physiology
Body composition
Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
Swimming speed
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)
Genetics
Genetics
Heterozygosity
Heritability
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
Collaborators
Taxonomy
Common names
Synonyms
Morphology
Morphometrics
Pictures
References
References

Tools

E-book | Field guide | Length-frequency wizard | Life-history tool | Point map | Classification Tree | Catch-MSY |

Special reports

Check for Aquarium maintenance | Check for Species Fact Sheets | Check for Aquaculture Fact Sheets

Download XML

Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Alien/Invasive Species database | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Aquaculture systems: production; Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 1.0000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.02239 (0.01185 - 0.04230), b=2.99 (2.82 - 3.16), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  2.0   ±0.0 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.23; Fec=7,000-300,000).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate to high vulnerability (47 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 43.6 [17.8, 103.8] mg/100g; Iron = 1.09 [0.51, 2.44] mg/100g; Protein = 17.6 [15.5, 19.7] %; Omega3 = 0.28 [0.10, 0.78] g/100g; Selenium = 125 [45, 312] μg/100g; VitaminA = 14 [4, 47] μg/100g; Zinc = 1.43 [0.94, 2.22] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.