| Trichomycteridae (Pencil or parasitic catfishes), subfamily: Trichomycterinae |
| 3.4 cm SL (male/unsexed) |
|
benthopelagic; freshwater |
| South America: single set of rimstone dams in São Mateus Cave in Brazil. |
|
Dorsal soft rays (total): 11-11; Anal soft rays: 8-8; Vertebrae: 36-36. Distinguished from its epigean and cave congeners by the combination of the following characters: small size (max. 3.4 cm SL); the higher degree of reduction in body pigmentation and in eye size, 2.0-2.1% HL; supraoccipital fontanel very reduced or absent; base and distal extremity of laminar surface of urohyal with similar widths, dorsal process short; posterior process of palatine as long as palatine length, medial concavity slightly rounded; maxilla with discrete medial-posterior projection; fronto-lachrymal 2/3 length of maxilla, anteriorly and posteriorly pointed; opercle with 9 odontodes and interopercle with 20-21 odontodes; 5 pairs of ribs (also observed in a juvenile of I. bambui); caudal skeleton with upper hypural plate triangular and lower one rectangular, neural spine or preural centrum with acute extremity, dorsal procurrent rays 14 and ventral 10 (Ref. 55401).
Description: Dorsal fin with 11 rays ( 3 unbranched, 8 branched); anal fin with 8 rays (2 unbranched, 6 branched); pectoral fin with 8 rays, first ray longer, unbranched and filamentous; pelvic fin with 5 rays, first ray unbranched (Ref. 55401). |
| Occurs in pools in a set of rimstone dams (wall-shaped barriers of calcite, aragonite or other chemical deposits that impound water pools), 10-30 cm deep and with rocky bottom (Ref. 55401). A solitary species, swimming on the bottom, along the walls and sometimes at the surface of the pools (Ref. 55401). |
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Critically Endangered (CR); Date assessed: 18 May 2022 (B2ab(iii)) Ref. (130435)
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| harmless |
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