On a journey to explore aquatic habitats, Tai Strietman discovers a man-made biotope that’s rich on plants and surprises.
FOR SEVERAL YEARS now, I have been speaking to my friend Juliana Leroy, a Brazilian botanist and specialist on aquatic plants about a joint expedition. She had been showing me images from her trips across north-eastern Brazil and had explained that apart from fuel, the costs weren’t great, but the rewards were high. We set in motion a plan for me to visit in November 2022. When I duly landed in the city of Natal, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Juliana met me at the airport, and straight away drove me to a site to search for aquatic plants.
We spent several days exploring the region around the city, which included crystal clear streams, home to silvertip and gold tetras, Hasemania nana and Hemigrammus rodwayi respectively, flowing between dunes which divided impoverished neighbourhoods.
We examined rural creeks nestled in dry valleys, choked with familiar aquatic plants such as Cabomba, Mayaca and Nymphaea and we dived into a lake which contained vast meadows of Helanthium tenellum, all cloaked in detritus.
We eventually set out on a massive expedition, crossing thousands of miles of the region’s huge, dry, and dusty interior. We traversed the states of Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba and Pernambuco, slipped in and out of the state of Ceará and down south into the great expansive of the state of Bahia, with its highland lakes, lowland semi-deserts, and great tabletop mountains of the famous Chapada Diamantina.
We explored the São Francisco River, where we encountered cowardly oscar cichlids who, totally out of character, abandoned their clouds of fry as soon as we approached. We investigated temporary pools and watering holes filled with Echinodorus plants as bored cattle looked on, and we hiked up to beautiful blackwater waterfalls, where, in a tiny mountain stream, we caught a stunning little catfish in Juliana’s headscarf.
FRINGING WATER LILIES
Unlike with many ornamental ponds, the Nymphaea here grew mostly at the edges of the pool. Areas with foliage covering them are the likeliest spots to find both shy fishes and ambush predators.
A hidden gem
After driving for many thousands of miles, we began to make our way north along coastal roads back to Natal, from Bahia, through the states of Sergipe and Alagoas, re-entering Pernambuco and Paraíba, where Juliana wished to show me a particular hi
