The Curuá River is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...

of the

Iriri River The Iriri River ( pt, Rio Iriri, ; Mẽbêngôkre: ''Kororoti'', ) is a large tributary of the Xingu River in Brazil, in the state of Pará. It is long making it the 116th longest river in the world (with Krishna River, India) and the 15th long ...

Pará Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana a ...

state in north-central

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The river flows through the Tapajós-Xingu moist forests ecoregion. The river rises in the

Nascentes da Serra do Cachimbo Biological Reserve The Nascentes da Serra do Cachimbo Biological Reserve ( pt, Reserva Biológica Nascentes da Serra do Cachimbo) is a biological reserve in the state of Pará, Brazil. The reserve protects an area in the transition between the Cerrado and Amazon bio ...

, a strictly protected conservation unit established in 2005. It is one of the headwaters of the

Xingu River The Xingu River ( ; pt, Rio Xingu, ; Mẽbêngôkre: ''Byti'', ) is a river in north Brazil. It is a southeast tributary of the Amazon River and one of the largest clearwater rivers in the Amazon basin, accounting for about 5% of its water. ...

. The upper part and the lower part of the Curuá River are divided by two waterfalls, only apart. The first waterfall is tall and the second is tall.Netto-Ferreira, A.L. (2012)
Three new species of Lebiasina (Characiformes: Lebiasinidae) from the Brazilian Shield border at Serra do Cachimbo, Pará, Brazil.
Neotropical Ichthyology 10(3): 487-498. As a consequence, the fauna in the upper part, above the waterfalls on the

Serra do Cachimbo Serra do Cachimbo ( en, Cachimbo Mountains) is a low mountain range in Brazil, in the southern part of the state of Pará, located mostly in the municipalities of Altamira, Itaituba, Jacareacanga, and Novo Progresso. The Serra do Cachimbo co ...

plateau, is highly distinct and includes several

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

fish: three ''

Lebiasina ''Lebiasina'' is a genus of fishes found in tropical South America, where they inhabit well-oxygenated upland streams that originate in the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, the Guianan Highlands in Brazil, Guyana and Venezuela, and Serra do ...

'' species, ''

Brachychalcinus ''Brachychalcinus'' is a genus of characins found in tropical South America, with five currently described species: * '' Brachychalcinus copei'' (Steindachner, 1882) * '' Brachychalcinus nummus'' J. E. Böhlke, 1958 * '' Brachychalcinus orbicu ...

reisi'', '' Erythrocharax altipinnis'', ''

Jupiaba ''Jupiaba'' is a genus of characins from South America. with 27 currently described species: * '' Jupiaba abramoides'' ( C. H. Eigenmann, 1909) * '' Jupiaba acanthogaster'' (C. H. Eigenmann, 1911) * '' Jupiaba anteroides'' ( Géry, 1965) * '' Ju ...

kurua'', ''

Knodus ''Knodus'' is a genus of characins, small freshwater fish from South America.Thomaz, A.T., Arcila, D., Ortí, G. & Malabarba, L.R. (2015): Molecular phylogeny of the subfamily Stevardiinae Gill, 1858 (Characiformes: Characidae): classification ...

nuptialis'', ''

Moenkhausia ''Moenkhausia'' is a genus of freshwater fish in the family Characidae native to tropical and subtropical South America. These are medium-sized tetra Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA; formerly known as Trans-European Trunked Radio), a Europea ...

petymbuaba'', ''

Leporinus ''Leporinus'' is a genus of fish in the family Anostomidae native to South America. The fossil species ''Leporinus scalabrinii'', known from the late Miocene of Entre Ríos in Argentina, has only recently been added to this genus after being mis ...

guttatus'', three ''

Harttia ''Harttia'' is a genus of armored catfishes native to South America. The genus name comes from Charles Frederick Hartt (1840-1878), a geologist, paleontologist and naturalist, who collected the many specimens during the Thayer Expedition to Bra ...

'' species, three ''

Apistogramma ''Apistogramma'' is a large genus of freshwater fish in the family Cichlidae found in South America, but also commonly kept in aquariums. They are dwarf cichlids that mostly feed on tiny animals and have breeding behaviors that vary depending o ...

'' species (including ''A. kullanderi'', the largest in the genus), and others. These are to some extent protected by the reserve, but habitat loss continues and the proposed building of dams, which would remove the waterfalls that isolate the endemics from more widespread species in the lower part, potentially represents a serious threat.Menezes, N.A., and M.M.F. Marinho (2019). A New Species of Knodus Eigenmann (Characiformes: Characidae: Stevardiinae) with Comments on Nuptial Tubercles and Gill Gland in Characiform Fishes. PLoS ONE 14(7): e0217915. Varella, H.R.; and R. Britzke (2016). Apistogramma eleutheria and A. flavipedunculata, two new species of dwarf cichlids from the rio Curuá on Serra do Cachimbo, Brazil (Teleostei: Cichlidae). Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters 27(1): 81-95.

References

Rivers of Pará {{Pará-river-stub

See also

References