Curculionichthys scaius Calegari, Gamarra & Reis, 2018
Curculionichthys scaius
photo by Calegari et al., 2018

Family:  Loricariidae (Armored catfishes), subfamily: Hypoptopomatinae
Max. size:  2.4 cm SL (male/unsexed)
Environment:  demersal; freshwater; depth range 0 - 1 m
Distribution:  South America: Brazil.
Diagnosis:  Dorsal spines (total): 2-2; Dorsal soft rays (total): 7-7; Anal spines: 1-1; Anal soft rays: 5-5. This species is distinguished from its congeners by the following set of characters: having two usually distinct, somewhat triangular dark brown speckles lateral to the anal-fin origin (vs. speckles lateral to anal-fin origin absent or, when pigmentation present, weak and sparsely distributed forming inconspicuous blotches); differs from C. karipuna, Hisonotus acuen, H. chromodontus by having paired rostral plates (vs. rostral plate single); differs from C. oliveirai, C. piracanjuba, H. acuen, H. bockmanni, H. chromodontus by having more numerous lateral abdominal plates 7-8 (vs. 3-5 lateral abdominal plates); differs from C. coxipone, C. luteofrenatus, C. piracanjuba, C. sabaji, C. sagarana by having a single series of large median abdominal plates (vs. usually 3 or more regular series of median abdominal plates, or small plates irregularly distributed); differs from C. coxipone, C. sagarana by having anterior margin of snout pointed (vs. rounded); differs further from its congeners by having more dentary teeth 17-22 (vs. 5-1 in insperatus, 5-12,sabaji, 7-16 coxipone, 10-15 oliveirai, 11-18 itaim, 10-16 tukana, 4-7 paresi) and by having more pemaxillary teeth 19-25 (vs. 6-14 in insperatus, 7-13 sabaji, 7-15 coxipone, 9-18 oliveirai, 11-18 itaim, 12-18 tukana); also differs further in several morphometric proportions of the body and head, mostly involving prepelvic, prepectoral, and preanal distances, head and cleithral width, caudal peduncle length, and dorsal-fin spine (Ref. 119375).
Biology:  This species was collected in a third order creek with clear water, bottom formed mainly by sand and leaf litter, wirh an average width of 2.5 m and depth of 0.3 m; collected when water temperature was 23.6 Celsius and dissolved oxygen 1.88 PPM. The creek edges were covered by gallery forest, but portions have been deforested and pastures are now reaching to the river margin (Ref. 119375).
IUCN Red List Status: Not Evaluated (N.E.) Ref. (130435)
Threat to humans:  harmless


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