Scales. Small catalogue of freshwater fishes

An admirable variety of fishes lurks in the “arteries” of the planet, home to so many species with incredible adaptations.

When one thinks of fishes, very often one’s mind runs to the great coral reefs, the ocean depths or the polar waters. What emerges, however, is that fishes in rivers do everything they can to amaze us, to go against the odds, to outdo the competition: some walk, some jump, some climb, and it will not be a rock face or a near-desert dune that stops them.

While it is true that many are famous, such as the fearsome piranha or the voracious torpedo, a whole host are virtually unknown, and many are probably still waiting to be discovered.

The bodies of these animals are covered with armoured scales, which make them hydrodynamic and resistant, and with mucus, a protection against infection. They are ready to do anything to eat and reproduce: this is how some of the most extraordinary migrations known to date originate, such as that of the eels from the European mountains to the heart of the Atlantic, just to name one, with tens of thousands of kilometres travelled just to lay their eggs. The advice is not just to admire them in aquariums, but to learn as much as possible about them and, why not, to observe them close to home, perhaps from the top of a small bridge or with mask and flippers if conditions allow it to be done safely.

A dense mystery navigates the banks of the river…

Author & Illustrator

Marco Colombo, naturalist, photographer and populariser of science.
Francesco Tomasinelli, biologist and photojournalist.

Illustrations by Giulia De Amicis.