Rheophile Explained

A rheophile is an animal that prefers to live in fast-moving water.

Examples of rheophilic animals

Insects

• Many aquatic insects living in riffles require current to survive.^[1]
• Epeorus sylvicola, a rheophilic mayfly species (Ephemeroptera)
• Some African (Elattoneura) and Asian threadtail (Prodasineura) species^[2]

Birds

• Dippers (Cinclus)
• Grey wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) and mountain wagtail (Motacilla clara)
• A few swifts often nest behind waterfalls, including American black swift (Cypseloides niger), giant swiftlet (Hydrochous gigas), great dusky swift (Cypseloides senex) and white-collared swift (Streptoprocne zonaris)
• Some waterfowl, including African black duck (Anas sparsa), blue duck (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos), Brazilian merganser (Mergus octosetaceus), bronze-winged duck (Speculanas specularis), harlequin duck (Histrionicus histrionicus), Salvadori's teal (Salvadorina waigiuensis) and torrent duck (Merganetta armata)

Fish

A very large number of rheophilic fish species are known and include members of at least 419 genera in 60 families.^[3] Examples include:

• Many species in the family Balitoridae, also known as the hill stream loaches.
• Many species in the family Loricariidae from South and Central America
• Many Chiloglanis species, which are freshwater catfish from Africa
• The family Gyrinocheilidae.
• Rheophilic cichlid genera/species:
  • The Lamena group in the genus Paretroplus from Madagascar.
  • Oxylapia polli from Madagascar.
  • Retroculus species from the Amazon Basin and rivers in the Guianas in South America.
  • Steatocranus species from the Congo River Basin in Africa.
  • Teleocichla species from the Amazon Basin in South America.
  • Teleogramma species from the Congo River Basin in Africa.
• Mylesinus, Myleus, Ossubtus, Tometes and Utiaritichthys, which are serrasalmids from tropical South America
• The Danube streber (Zingel streber), family Percidae.

Molluscs

• Ancylus fluviatilis
• Aylacostoma species
• Lymnaea ovata

Amphibians

• Neurergus strauchii, a newt from Turkey
• Pachytriton labiatus, a newt from China

See also

• Lotic ecosystem

References

1. Hynes, H. B. N. (1970). Ecology of Running Waters. Originally published in Toronto by University of Toronto Press, 555p.
2. Web site: Dijkstra . K.-D.B. . Genus Elattoneura Cowley, 1935 - African threadtails . addo.adu.org.za . frican Dragonflies and Damselflies Online . 1 March 2022.
3. Nathan K. Lujan and Kevin W. Conway (2015). "Life in the Fast Lane: A Review of Rheophily in Freshwater Fishes". Pp. 107–307 in: R. Riesch et al. (eds.). Extremophile Fishes. Springer International Publishing, Switzerland. .