Ways to Protect the Environments of the Itaúnas Cloud Fish - Xenurolebias Myersi (Carvalho, 1971) – Inhabitant of the Restinga Swamps, Conceição Da Barra, Northern Espírito Santo, Southeastern Brazil

Abstract

Itaúnas is a locality of rare scenic beauty, with white sand dunes in the middle of the savanna coastal environments, known as restinga, and many flooded pools, forming a unique landscape. In these ponds of dark water, matte tea colored, lives a fish, _Xenurolebias myersi, _an endemic inhabitant of Itaúnas. The survival of this unique little fish is worrisome. The living environments of the Itaúnas cloud fish are under pressure, and it is threatened with extinction as well. As inhabiting temporary, almost isolated environments, this fish is almost unknown. Locally, the population is unaware that the region is inhabited by an endangered fish, which only exists there in Itaúnas. A form of protection comes through the awareness of their presence among the population of the village. The present contribution aims to shed light on the knowledge of _Xenurolebias myersi_, in order to turn the fish better known locally, and point out the urgency to protect the Velha Antonia stream, a river drainage closer to the village of Itaúnas, where the fish was caught for the first time.