Background. Thirty species were previously recorded for unstructured habitats (unvegetated soft substrates: USS) in Pantanos de Centla. However, a lack of information on the tropical ichthyofauna of the structured habitats such as marginal vegetation (MV), submerged macrophytes (SM) and coarse woody debris (CWD) emphasizes the importance of the aim of this paper that is the updating the records of the species distributed in these habitats, as they have been frequently reported as high biodiversity sites that are currently threatened by anthropogenic activities. Materials and methods. Sampling was carried out in 30 shallow sites, each with unstructured habitats and the three structured habitats, in Pantanos de Centla, a Ramsar wetland, over a period of three years. Fish were collected with a dip net, a drop net and a Renfro beam net. Results. A total of 6506 fish of 37 genera and 44 species were collected. Eleven species are new records for Pantanos de Centla, and the scientific name of 11 species was updated. The Poeciliidae and Cichlidae families are dominant with 10 and 13 species, respectively. Nine species of the genus Cichlasoma sensu lato were placed in six genera. Three species are new records for the Usumacinta Province. Ctenogobius claytoni, Gobionellus oceanicus, and Rhamdia quelen proved to be synonyms. Of all species, 84% were collected from USS, however, the number of species distributed in USS, MV, and SM was similar (CCj 0.4736-0.5813). Conclusion. Most of the species that were added to the previously recorded species list of Pantanos de Centla, inhabit structured habitats. This confirms the importance of including these habitats in surveys aimed at generating checklists, and of analysing the distribution of fish species in shallow tropical ecosystems.

Ichthyofauna, submerged macrophytes, coarse woody debris, marginal vegetation, unvegetated soft substrates, diversity, tropical, wetland