2017-11-26 Amazonas

rivers, the water temperatures are high (82.4–86°F/28–

30°C). Where the rainforest is still intact, the smaller

tributaries are heavily shaded and stay somewhat cooler

(77–82.4°F/25–28°C). The ground is mostly composed

of rocks of various sizes (which serve as habitat for Glos-

sogobius and other gobies, along with swarms of hardy-

heads and rainbowfishes); in some of the quieter zones

there is also sand, and sometimes mud.

A variety of water plants grow

in these rainforest biotopes, espe-

cially along the calm edges. The

spawning areas of many species of

fish (glassfishes, silverside min-

nows, rainbowfishes, and blue-eyes)

are found here. There are occasion-

al piles of driftwood. Mogurnda cingulata and Hephaestus

habbemai live and breed here, and so do the predatory

cardinalfishes of the genus Glossamia (G. aprion, G. timi-

ka, and G. sandei). The clear waters in this area are all

fairly similar. If you want to set up a Timika biotope tank,

this can certainly be done with relatively little effort.

The roads, and especially the bridges, in the Mimika

Regency were only recently completed (between 2013

and 2015). In 2015, we drove between a couple of these

bridges through an almost untouched primary rainforest.

Some land had been cleared in preparation for creating

large palm oil plantations. In February 2017 we went

back and the project was finished. The rainforest between

the Sungai Nugure and the Sungai Mayak is gone, and

there are palm trees as far as the eye can see. The current

In 2015, we

were only

allowed to cross

the Kiura River

with an armed

escort. That was

handy, because

later on the

soldiers helped

us carry the

fishes we had

collected.

AMAZONAS

ALL: H.-G. EVERS

Melanotaenia goldiei from

the Kiura drainage is

intensely colored.