- publication
- 01-01-2017
Freshwater fi shes are supposedly good case studies to test palaeobiogeographical models because they are attached to land masses, at least primary freshwater fi shes, which are unable to cross marine barriers. In this study, I review the literature about the fossil record and about the phylogeny of various freshwater fi sh groups in order to address, in a qualitative way, the biogeographic scenarios proposed to explain their modern distribution. At the intercontinental scale, vicariant events seem to have played a minor role in the distribution of main freshwater fi sh clades, except for some during the fi rst phases of the break-up. Most of the biogeographical events that shaped the modern distribution of freshwater fi sh clades are likely dispersals events that occurred in the Late Cretaceous and in the Palaeogene.
see on external website