Platystacus cotylephorus

Platystacus cotylephorus
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Aspredinidae
Subfamily: Aspredininae
Genus: Platystacus
Bloch, 1794
Species: P. cotylephorus
Binomial name
Platystacus cotylephorus
Bloch, 1794
Synonyms

Of Platystacus

  • Platysomatos Bloch, 1797
  • Cotylephorus Swainson, 1838

Of P. cotylephorus

  • Silurus hexadactylus
    La Cepède, 1803
  • Cotylephorus blochii
    Swainson, 1838
  • Aspredo sexcirrhis
    Valenciennes, in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1840
  • Aspredo spectrum
    Gronow, in Gray, 1854
  • Platystacus nematophorus
    Bleeker, 1862

Platystacus cotylephorus, the Banded banjo, is a species of banjo catfish. It is the only member of its genus.[1] The genus Platystacus is the sister group to a clade containing Aspredo and Aspredinichthys.[2] P. cotylephorus originates from coastal waters and lower portions of rivers of northern South America, from Venezuela to northern Brazil.[1]

This species grows up to about 32.0 centimetres (12.6 in) SL and is distinguished from all other aspredinids by having 4+5 caudal fin rays. They are further distinguished from its close relatives by the absence of accessory maxillary barbels and the presence of well developed rows of unculiferous tubercles.[2]

P. cotylephorus is usually found in brackish waters on the soft bottoms of shallow, turbid water near to the mouths of rivers. reportedly it migrates into freshwater, though spawning is believed to take place in brackish water.[3] This species has an unusual mode of reproduction in which the eggs are attached to the underside of the female who carries them around with her until they hatch.[3]

External links

References

  1. 1 2 Ferraris, Carl J., Jr. (2007). "Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types" (PDF). Zootaxa 1418: 1–628.
  2. 1 2 Friel, John Patrick (1994-12-13). "A Phylogenetic Study of the Neotropical Banjo Catfishes (Teleostei: Siluriformes: Aspredinidae)" (PDF). Duke University, Durham, NC. Retrieved 2007-08-07.
  3. 1 2 Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). "Platystacus cotylephorus" in FishBase. December 2011 version.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, August 22, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.