Hypophthalmus edentatus
Mapará of the lower Tocantins and the Amazon: a silver, schooling, toothless catfish that filters plankton. Its fishing is a festival in Cametá (PA), and it hardly ever takes a hook.
Also called: mapará-de-cametá, mapará, mapurá
A pelagic, toothless, scaleless catfish that lives in schools near the surface over soft mud bottoms. FishBase places it in the family Pimelodidae, and many authors treat it in Hypophthalmidae. It filters crustacean plankton (cladocerans, copepods, ostracods) and detritus with long gill rakers, and follows the rise and fall of plankton through the day. Spawning is batch-wise, with 50,000 to 100,000 eggs per female; young stay in the lower river and estuaries, and adults move upstream. It is sold fresh or salted. In the lower Tocantins at Cametá (PA), the opening of the mapará fishing season in March is a municipal intangible cultural heritage. In the Itaipu reservoir in the upper Paraná, it became one of the most abundant species after the dam was built. Because it filters plankton, it hardly ever takes bait.
Elongated, compressed, scaleless body, pale gray back with a steel-blue sheen and a yellowish to whitish belly. Slightly flattened head, low eyes set on the sides, wide toothless mouth, long gray barbels and many long gill rakers. The mapará most often caught, Hypophthalmus marginatus (Mapará species page), looks very similar: species in the genus are separated by counts and proportions, not color, and in fishing and in rules they are all called mapará.
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Channels and lakes of whitewater rivers in the Amazon, the lower Tocantins (Cametá, in Pará) and the Araguaia-Tocantins basin; outside Brazil, the Orinoco and coastal rivers of the Guianas and Suriname. FishBase also cites it in the Paraná, and there is an abundant population in the Itaipu reservoir, where it arrived after 1982 (Júlio Júnior et al., 2009).
Habitat: Midwater and surface of rivers, lakes and reservoirs, over soft mud; young in lower reaches and estuaries, adults farther upstream.
native to the basins
introduced in
states
Amazonas, Pará, Amapá, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Paraná
Most caught during falling water and the dry season. In the lower Tocantins, larvae have been recorded year-round and spawning in December and January in the past (Portal Amazônia, 2024). Closed seasons and minimum sizes are in the rules section.
Nighttime. It follows plankton: it rises to the surface at night and stays deeper by day, according to FishBase. Professional net fishing takes place at night.
Cold snaps reduce activity.
Little known effect.
Net fishers report higher catches on dark nights, when the school rises.
Little effect.
Falling water concentrates the school.
Not very sensitive.
Strong wind hampers surface net fishing.
Surface at night; down to about 37 m by day, according to FishBase.
It is a net fish of artisanal fishing. For hook anglers it serves as an indicator: where there are mapará schools, predators such as pescada and peacock bass tend to hang around.
Summary of the regulations we found, with the source for each. Rules change; before keeping or transporting fish, check with the state environmental agency.
Conservation: Not on the Brazilian national list (Ministerial Ordinance GM/MMA No. 1.667/2026).
In AM, AC, PA and AP, mapará (Hypophthalmus spp.) is in Annex II of the ministerial ordinance, with fishing prohibited from November 15 to March 15. Under art. 2, II, anglers fishing with handline, pole, or line and hook are exempt from this ban, unless a stricter state rule applies; during the period, the recreational limit is 5 kg plus 1 specimen (art. 3).
In the Cametá Fishing Agreement, in the area of the communities between Tamanduá-Costa and Pindobal, fishing for mapará (Hypophthalmus spp.) under 29 cm total length, the so-called mapará fifiti, is prohibited. The rule applies only to that stretch of the Tocantins River and for 3 years from publication (February 29, 2024); confirm whether it has been renewed.
Source: Portaria Semas-PA nº 288/2024 (Cametá Fishing Agreement), arts. 3º, III, and 5º, V and VI
Under the Cametá Fishing Agreement, from November 1 to February 28, all commercial fishing activity is prohibited, including transport and sale of native Tocantins fish. Subsistence fishing is allowed up to 5 kg plus 1 specimen per day and per family, with handline, pole or rod. Recreational rod-and-hook fishing is allowed in the agreement area. The closed season ends February 28 and the mapará season opens in March.
Source: Portaria Semas-PA nº 288/2024 (Cametá Fishing Agreement), arts. 5º, VII, 6º, IV, and 7º
In Tocantins the mapará (Hypophthalmus edentatus) may only be kept between 25 and 55 cm; outside that range it goes back into the water.
Source: Portaria Naturatins nº 47/2026, as amended by Portaria nº 105/2026, Annex I
Above 55 cm the mapará must be returned to the water in Tocantins.
Source: Portaria Naturatins nº 47/2026, as amended by Portaria nº 105/2026, Annex I
In the Araguaia basin, in Mato Grosso, the minimum size for the mapará (Hypophthalmus edentatus) is 29 cm. Recreational fishing in MT is catch and release, with retention of up to 2 kg or 1 fish for consumption on site, within 500 m of the river (art. 19-C of Lei nº 9.096/2009).
Allowed: Sport and guided fishing only in reservoirs, catch and release with barbless hooks (no keeping, transporting or eating). Subsistence: up to 5 kg per day, for household consumption only.
Allowed: All fishing modalities are prohibited in rivers, including catch and release (Law 9.096/2009, art. 19-A). Exceptions: subsistence fishing from shore (3 kg or 1 fish, no transport or sale) and scientific fishing. Law 13.159/2025 now allows licensed sport fishing in UHE/PCH hydropower reservoirs, natural lakes and border rivers, subject to a scientific study and a license from the environmental agency. We have not confirmed whether these licenses are already being issued.
Allowed: Recreational fishing only in reservoirs, with handline, rod, or spinning or baitcasting reel. Fish may only be eaten on site, not transported. Competitions prohibited. Subsistence: 3 kg + 1 fish. State rules (GO and TO) may be stricter.
Allowed: Recreational fishing only in reservoirs, with on-site consumption. Subsistence: 5 kg + 1 fish. State rules may be stricter.
Allowed: In 2025/26: catch and release with barbless hooks and recreational fishing card; subsistence fishing on foot or from a rowboat, with simple pole or handline.
Source: Portaria Naturatins nº 244/2025 (2025/26 season); INIs MPA/MMA nº 12 and 13/2011
Allowed: The same recreational-angler exceptions as in Portaria 48/2007 apply (handline or rod, 5 kg + 1 fish), unless a stricter state rule applies.
Source: Portaria IBAMA nº 48/2007
Allowed: Recreational anglers with handline or rod, line and hook are outside the Annex II prohibitions, with a bag limit of 5 kg + 1 fish, unless a stricter state rule applies.
Source: Portaria IBAMA nº 48/2007
Allowed: Subsistence fishing only.
Source: Portaria IBAMA nº 48/2007
Allowed: See the exceptions in Portaria 48/2007 and the state rules for each bank.
Source: Portaria IBAMA nº 48/2007
The rule does not apply to hook fishing. If it comes up in the net or on the hook and is below size (29 cm in Cametá and in MT), release it alive and without delay.
Sold fresh or salted, according to FishBase. In the lower Tocantins it is the fish of the fishing-season opening festival, in March.
Length-weight relationship W = a·Lb (a = 0.00617, b = 3.11; FishBase (relação peso-comprimento bayesiana, estimativa da própria espécie)). It's an average: a fat or lean fish can vary by 10% to 20%.
estimated weight
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The season weights (months), the time of day and the sensitivities (cold, pressure, moon, wind, rain, tide, strong light, murky water and noise) are the app's editorial estimates, based on the literature below and on the field experience of anglers and guides. They are not official data nor a measurement made for this species, and they may vary by region and year. Closed seasons and legal rules appear in the rules section, with the norm and a link.
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