Freshwater fishes distribution in Taiwan and continent of China and its biogeographical significance

Through the comparative analysis of primary freshwater fishes in Chinese co ntinent and the Taiwan Island, we summarize the three distinctions of distr ibution of freshwater fishes in these areas: (i) there exists a high simila rity of freshwater fish fauna between Taiwan and the southeastern shore of the continent; (ii) some species of freshwater fish are found both in the T aiwan Island and East Himalayans; (iii) different freshwater fishes have di fferent distributions in island arch of western Pacific where Taiwan is loc ated, but the distribution pattern shows a similarity to that of adjacent c ontinent. The characteristic distributions of the fishes are closely relate d to the change in paleogeography and geology in the area. The parsimony an alysis of endemicity (PAE analysis) indicates that the three distribution p atterns can be explained by the vicariance theory.