Fig 1.
The Cube River basin (A) Map of the Cube River basin, within the Esmeraldas River basin (shown in the inset) showing 20 sampling sites across an altitudinal gradient (higher-south to lower-north). (B) Pictures depicting the aquatic ecosystems of several sampling sites. The numbers of black circles correspond to numbering of sampling sites on the right. Reprinted with permission from Jose R Daza, 2023.
Fig 2.
Freshwater fish of the Cube River basin.
(A) Awaous transandeanus, (B) Sicydium salvini, (C) Lebiasina bimaculata, (D) Brycon atrocaudatus, (E) Eretmobrycon cf. ecuadoriensis, (F) Pseudochalceus lineatus, (G) Peseudopoecilia fria (male top, female below), (H) Rhamdia guatemalensiss, (I) Pimelodella modestus, (J) Astroblepus aff. mindoensis, (K) Trichomycterus aff. banneaui, (L) Chaethosstoma bifurcum, (M) Rhoadsia minor (male top, female below). Photos: courtesy of Karla Barragán.
Table 1.
Species identity of specimens collected in this study.
Identifications are based on molecular and morphological characters and relevant literature of species occurrence in Western Ecuador. Numbers in parenthesis indicate the number of analyzed specimens using morphology.
Fig 3.
Phylogenetic relationships of fishes from the Cube River basin.
Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree based on partial 16S rRNA (16S) and c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences (1309 bp), representing 26 fish species from the Cube River basin. Node statistical support is shown as: SH-aLRT support (%) / ultrafast bootstrap support (%).
Table 2.
Blast match identity between 99–100% of sequenced species from the Cube River basin with available data from GenBank.