The evaluation of biotic integrity through multimetric analyses of the attributes of fish fauna is recognized as an important tool for water management and conservation policies. In this sense, the present study aimed to elucidate the most frequently used metrics in multimetric indexes (MMIs) on the basis on the fish assemblages in Brazil. An electronic search of the literature was carried out using indexing databases of periodicals. The criteria used for the selection of scientific articles were studies carried out in Brazilian territory and reports of the use of MMI with fish. A total of 32 publications were selected from 19 journals, 15 of which were Brazilian journals. The majority of the studies were carried out in streams (51.9%), and there were no temporal patterns. The highest concentration of studies was observed in the southeast region. In all, 103 different metrics were used; those metrics highlighted attributes related to the trophic level, tolerance to hypoxia, and species composition. There was an increase over time of publications that reported on the use of specific metrics and environments, except for rivers. In comparison to other environments, the results of the metrics from streams were statistically different. Difficulties in terms of the applications of MMIs in Brazil are linked to the selection of aspects that characterize the condition of a habitat before the diagnosis of the ecological components in the classification of the environmental quality. Despite its importance, the lack of standardized metrics and the neglect of functional characteristics make it difficult to replicate the MMI.
