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Teleostei (teleosts) > Siluriformes (Catfishes) > Phreatobiidae (Cistern catfishes)
Etymology: Phreatobius: Greek, phreas, -atos = well, spring + Greek, bios = alive (Ref. 45335); sanguijuela: The specific name refers to the local name of this catfish in Bolivia.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; demersal. Tropical

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South America: artificial wells near Río Paraguá, a tributary of the Río Iténez in Bolivia.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 4.2 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 59347)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 7; Anal soft rays: 19 - 20; Vertebrae: 45 - 46. Distinguished from other siluriform genera by having the following combination of characters: dorsal and ventral procurrent caudal-fin rays extended rostrally, dorsally reaching a vertical position on dorsal-fin base posterior to dorsal-fin insertion, ventrally continuous with anal fin; caudal fin round; all anal-fin rays unbranched; mouth prognathous, with jaws displaced dorsally on head; adductor mandibulae muscle hypertrophied, covering most of skull and inserting posteriorly onto first neural spine; first pectoral-fin ray soft, not spinous; bright red in life. Differs uniquely from its congeners by the absence of eyes, presence of 25-34 dorsal procurrent caudal fin rays; 14-16 ventral procurrent caudal fin rays; 45-46 vertebrae (Ref. 59347).

Occurs in artificial wells with transparent water, depth range 6 to 12 m and diameter of approximately 1 m (Ref. 59347). The water in the wells is used locally for human consumption. This fish is often mistaken for parasitic leeches " sanguijuelas" due to its bright, blood-red color and vermiform shape. For this reason, this is killed upon incidental capture when extracting drinking water from wells.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

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Fernández, L., L.J. Saucedo, F.M. Carvajal-Vallejos and S.A. Schaefer, 2007. A new phreatic catfish of the genus Phreatobius Goeldi 1905 from groundwaters of the Iténez River, Bolivia (Siluriformes: Heptapteridae). Zootaxa 1626:51-58. (Ref. 59347)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)

Critically Endangered (CR) (B2ab(iii)); Date assessed: 24 April 2014

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.6250 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00389 (0.00180 - 0.00842), b=3.12 (2.94 - 3.30), in cm total length, based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.1 ±0.4 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).

Phreatobius sanguijuela Fernández, Saucedo, Carvajal-Vallejos & Schaefer, 2007