Chaetostoma bifurcum Lujan, Meza-Vargas, Astudillo-Clavijo, Barriga-Salazar & López-Fernández, 2015

Family:  Loricariidae (Armored catfishes), subfamily: Hypostominae
Max. size:  14.01 cm SL (male/unsexed)
Environment:  demersal; freshwater
Distribution:  South America: Pacific Coast drainages of western Ecuador and northwestern Peru, including (from north to south) the Esmeraldas, Guayas, Santa Rosa, and Tumbes river drainages.
Diagnosis:  Chaetostoma bifurcum is distinguished from all congeners along along the Pacific Coast of South America except C. palmeri and C. paucispinis by having only 1 or 2 evertible cheek odontodes (vs. 3-6); from C. niveum, C. palmeri, C. patiae, and C. paucispinis by having most frequently 4 branched rays on anal fin (vs. 5); from C. palmeri and C. paucispinis by having body with black, indistinct, vertically elongate, irregularly broken or complete bars K to O width of orbit in living adults (vs. body uniform or with transverse cross-bars wider than two times orbit centered on dorsal midline); and from C. paucispinis by having 8 branched rays on dorsal fin (vs. 9) (Ref. 104727). Description: Dorsal-fin branched rays 8; anal-fin branched rays 4-5; pectoral-fin branched rays 6; pelvic-fin branched rays 5 (Ref. 104727).
Biology:  Found in piedmont elevations approximately 100 to 650 masl (Ref. 104727).
IUCN Red List Status: Not Evaluated (N.E.) Ref. (130435)
Threat to humans:  harmless


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