Classification / Names
Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa
Issue
Specimens mentioned by Valenciennes in Cuvier & Valenciennes (1850: 211) and Bertin (1948: 26) are not types, only historical, all collected after original description by Cuvier (1818). See Boujard, Sabatier, Rojas-Beltran, Prevost & Renno (1990) for details on foods habits. See Lecomte, Boujard, Meunier, Renno and Rojas Beltarn (1993) for details on growth biology. Synonymy above is based on personal observation and examination of types.
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Freshwater; benthopelagic. Tropical
South America: Amazon River basin, north and east Guiana Shield rivers.
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 40.7 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 111518); max. published weight: 5.0 kg (Ref. ); max. published weight: 5.0 kg
Occurs along the calm banks of main rivers and also near the rapids. During the rainy season when growth is maximal, it feeds on fruits and consumes the seeds of palm trees like Euterpa oleracea, Taralea oppositifolia, Mauritia flexuosa and other plants like Inga sp. and Psidium sp. which they crush with their strong jaws. During the dry season, their diet consists more of aquatic plants like Mourea fluviatilis and Apinagia richardiana and gastropods and fish (Ref. 12225). Its flesh is excellent but it is preferable not to consume it at the end of the rainy season because then its flesh is very high in fat (Ref. 27188).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Distinct pairing during copulation (Ref. 205).
Planquette, P., P. Keith and P.-Y. Le Bail, 1996. Atlas des poissons d'eau douce de Guyane. Tome 1. Collection du Patrimoine Naturel Volume 22, MNHN, Paris & INRA, Paris. 429 p. (Ref. 12225)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Tools
Special reports
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Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5001 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.02089 (0.01162 - 0.03757), b=2.97 (2.81 - 3.13), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 2.6 ±0.23 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 2.5 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 2
growth studies.
Resilience (Ref.
120179): Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (tmax=5; k=0.44).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Low to moderate vulnerability (31 of 100).
