Fishes in the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta: Bibliographic review

The Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta (CGSM), the largest coastal lagoon system in Colombia, supports a diverse ichthyofauna and a highly productive artisanal fishery, yet its fish diversity has never been synthesized within a consistent taxonomic framework. We present a critical bibliographic reconstruction of the CGSM ichthyofauna, integrating records spanning nearly three centuries — from an 18th-century chronicle to a monitoring program extending into 2026 — and applying conservative criteria for species inclusion, systematic resolution of synonymies, and rigorous elimination of duplicate records. The resulting inventory recognizes 204 fish taxa, comprising 12 Elasmobranchii and 192 Teleostei across 37 orders, 86 families, and 161 genera. The most significant finding is the geographic reassignment of Steindachner’s (1879) material — historically attributed to the Magdalena River — to the CGSM lagoon complex, supported by the author’s own text and by Natural History Museum Vienna specimen records. This reassignment extends the scientifically documented baseline from approximately 1971 to 1876. The earliest record, Nicolás de la Rosa’s chronicle (ca. 1746), contributes 37 taxa, including 16 unique to that source. The chronological accumulation analysis reveals a gradual increase over two and a half centuries, followed by a marked acceleration after 1987 driven by a single comprehensive survey, and subsequent stabilization under long-term commercial fisheries monitoring. The inventory represents a substantial advance over earlier compilations by combining historical depth, taxonomic consistency, and full traceability of every species record to a verifiable primary source, providing a robust baseline for future ecological, taxonomic, and fisheries research in this important ecological and socioeconomic system.