river la Copalita, Oaxaca, Mexico

by **Biulu** on Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:43 am

I had the luck to visit one of the species' richest rivers in South Mexico; recently 2 new 'sucker' species were found there. Here are some pictures of the river during the dry season.

Where the river meets the sea:

river la Copalita, Oaxaca, Mexico 11891123906_808a869be4

DSC00698 by Biulu, on Flickr

About 8 kms upstream:

river la Copalita, Oaxaca, Mexico 11891001006_d394b206fb

DSC00734 by Biulu, on Flickr

river la Copalita, Oaxaca, Mexico 11890628944_a5051e70b5

DSC00729 by Biulu, on Flickr

river la Copalita, Oaxaca, Mexico 11890640804_11ee88cf0b

DSC00727 by Biulu, on Flickr

And this is what he caught:

river la Copalita, Oaxaca, Mexico 11890476953_2378a6e3b5

DSC00731 by Biulu, on Flickr

river la Copalita, Oaxaca, Mexico 11890599634_e8f2f1ff0a

DSC00733 by Biulu, on Flickr

Unfortunately no livebearers, but I did catch this fish:

river la Copalita, Oaxaca, Mexico 11890980936_1d4e330090

DSC00743 by Biulu, on Flickr

by GaryE on Sat Jan 11, 2014 12:01 pm

All right gang, let's rent a bus!

by caoder on Sat Jan 11, 2014 12:13 pm

Ha! Gary saw a fish Very Happy

by **Biulu** on Sat Jan 11, 2014 12:28 pm

If anybody knows what the ferocious looking fish is, please let me know. Locally it is known under a name that refers to the pig type sound it makes.

The fish I caught has a sucker mouth.

I forgot to tell that the river is full of shrimp, small and gamba sized. They call them langostilla or chacal. They taste delicious!

by **Biulu** on Sat Jan 11, 2014 12:36 pm

@GaryE wrote:All right gang, let's rent a bus!

Ha, it will take you ages to get there! Transatlantic does Mtl - Huatulco direct and from there it is 10 min per bus.

by goldfishbetalover on Sat Jan 11, 2014 6:11 pm

perhaps a charter flight would work....

by alexmtl on Sat Jan 11, 2014 6:15 pm

What a great adventure Biulu !
I think many of us would love to be wading in with nets and buckets. A real treat to see what the natural biotope looks like. Interesting looking fish, especially the shiny predator. Thanks for bringing these pictures into the forum so that we can see them.

by sucker4plecos on Sun Jan 12, 2014 4:59 pm

The predator looks like something in the marine "jack" family..... something that you would fish for in the islands.....

by **Sbenson11** on Sun Jan 12, 2014 7:09 pm

@GaryE wrote:All right gang, let's rent a bus!

Unfortunately it seems we will just have to live vicariously through the adventures of Biulu Smile

Steve

by **Biulu** on Sun Jan 12, 2014 8:55 pm

@sucker4plecos wrote:The predator looks like something in the marine "jack" family..... something that you would fish for in the islands.....

It can't be marine; this fish was caught at around 8 km land inwards. All the locals know it and it is very common, so it cannot have gotten there by surprise either. I was thinking of a piranha or tetra type fish. I will try to google predator fish Mexico or something similar to see if it comes up.

by **Biulu** on Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:28 pm

The first fish is: Agonostomus monticula (mountain mullet). The local people call it 'trout' and I read that a Spanish name is 'trucha de tierra caliente; (trout of the warm regions).

The small fish I caught is probably a Gobiomorus maculatus.

S4P: The fish does indeed look a lot like a Jack crevelle, although the mouth seems slightly different.