Charicids are freshwater Boney Fish related to Piranhas and Tetras that are found across South and Central America and as far north as Mexico and parts of Texas. Members of the genus Charax are medium sized members of this group, reaching a maximum of about 130 mm in length, most abundant in the Andean regions, but also found in southern and western Brazil and parts of the Guyanan Shield. No described member of this genus has a distribution that includes the coastal basins of northeastern Brazil, but there are several records of Fish apparently belonging to this group being found there.
In a paper published in the journal Zoosystematics and Evolution on 1 February 2018, Erick Cristofore Guimarães of the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade e Conservação, and the Laboratório de Sistemática e Ecologia de Organismos Aquáticos at the Universidade Federal do Maranhão, Pâmella Silva De Brito of the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade e Biotecnologia da Amazônia and the Laboratório de Sistemática e Ecologia de Organismos Aquáticos at the Universidade Federal do Maranhão, Beldo Rywllon Abreu Ferreira, also of the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade e Conservação at the Universidade Federal do Maranhão, and Felipe Polivanov Ottoni, of the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade e Conservação, the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade e Biotecnologia da Amazônia, the Laboratório de Sistemática e Ecologia de Organismos Aquáticos, and the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Oceanografia at the Universidade Federal do Maranhão, describe a new species of Charax from the Rio Mearim, Rio Munim and Rio Turiaçu basins, of Maranhão State in northestern Brazil.
The new species is named Charax awa, where ‘awa’ is the name used by the Guajá people of Maranhão State to describe themselves. Adults of this species range from 40.2 to120.0 mm in length and are silvery in colour, darker on the upper surface and towards the front, and with blotchy markings on the fins. The upper part of the head is distinctly concave, and the eyes somewhat small. The upper and lower jaws both have enlarged canine teeth as well as rows of smaller, conical teeth.
Charax awa, live specimen from a stream at the Miranda do Norte, in the Mearim River Basin of Maranhão State, Brazil. Erick Guimarães in Guimarães et al. (2018).
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