The tropical freshwater fauna (4, 7 and 18) has been one of the attractions of the Vasco da Gama Aquarium since the beginning of the century. It was introduced at a time when the attempts to keep and breed many of these exotic species, now commonplace in domestic aquaria, were growing across Europe.
Despite representing a tiny portion of the total water available on Earth, freshwater habitats are home to a substantial percentage (41%) of existing fish. Freshwater species are distributed worldwide, although their number depends on various factors, such as water quality, the geological history of the different regions, etc. The number of species increases considerably as we get closer to the Equator.
The exhibition dedicated to tropical freshwater fauna includes:
- - A group dedicated to small fish, divided by geographical area of origin (4)
- - Another group reserved for species with particularly interesting morphological, physiological or even ethological characteristics (7)
- - And a third group with large aquaterraria. The latter are an example of the most modern way of displaying freshwater fauna, as they represent the aquatic part of the ecosystem integrated into its surrounding terrestrial environment , thus giving a much more realistic image of the species' habitat(18)