The catfish L239 has finally been described by science and given a proper name: Baryancistrus beggini. Ichthyologists Lujan, Arce and Armbruster described the species in a paper[1] published in the journal Copeia[2].
Baryancistrus beggini lives in Venezuela and Colombia; in Rio Guaviare and at the confluence of Rio Ventuari and Rio Orinoco. The researchers found the fish in crevices amongst boulders. By analysing stomach contents, they were able to learn that this catfish feeds on periphyton and associated microfauna growing on rocks. (Periphyton is a mixture of algae, heterotrophic microbes, cyanobacteria, and detritus that can be found attached to submerged surfaces, e.g. stones, in most underwater ecosystems.)
In the aquarium trade, L239 is known as Blue panaque or Blue-fin panaque. The name beggini was given by Lujan and his colleagues in honour of Chris Beggin, the owner of an aquarium fish store in Nashville, USA who funded the research. The species has been placed in the genus Baryancistrus, but this might have to be corrected in the future as we learn more about the tribe Ancistrini.
Baryancistrus beggini sports a uniformly dark black to brown base colour with a blue sheen and the abdomen is naked. Along each side of the body you can see a distinctive keel above the pectoral finns; a keel formed by the strongly bent first three to five plates of the midventral series. The body also features two to three symmetrical and ordered predorsal plate rows and the last dorsal-fin ray is connected to the adipose fin.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Loricariidae
Subfamily: Hypostominae
Tribe: Ancistrini
Genus: Baryancistrus
New species: Baryancistrus beggini
[1] Lujan, NK, M Arce and JW Armbruster (2009) A new black Baryancistrus with blue sheen from the upper Orinoco (Siluriformes: Loricariidae). Copeia 2009, pp. 50–56.
[2] Copeia the official publication of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists and can be found on www.asih.org.
A new species of catfish belonging to the genus Lithogenes has been described by ichthyologists Scott Schaefer and Francisco Provenzano in a recent issue of the journal American Museum Novitates[1].
The new fish has been given the name Lithogenes wahari, after Ruá-Wahari, the Piaroapeople’s God of Creation[2]. The species is known from the Cuao River, a part of the Orinoco River drainage, where it inhabits clear and swift forest streams with exposed bedrock substratum. It was actually collected over 20 years ago by anthropologist Stanford Zent, but it would take until 2001 before the fish was found again by Scott Schaefer and Francisco Provenzano.
Lithogenes wahari is the third scientifically described member of the small genus Lithogenes and can be distinguished from its two close relatives by the absence of odontodes on the proximal portion of the ventral surface of the first pelvic-fin ray, the lack of accessory premaxillary teeth, the extensive ridges present on the thickened skin of the pelvic pad, and the intense pigment band that runs along the base of the anal fin. There is also a diffuse spot located midlength on the anal fin rays.
Interestingly enough, the new information on this Lithogenes member has led ichthyologists to suggest that the common ancestor of the Loricariidae and Astroblepidae was a fish capable of climbing rocks by grasping them with its mouth and pelvic fins.
[1] Schaefer, SA and F Provenzano (2008) The Lithogeninae (Siluriformes, Loricariidae): anatomy, interrelationships, and description of a new species. American Museum Novitates 3637, pp. 1–49.
[2] The Piaroa people lives along the banks of the Orinoco River and its tributaries in Venezuela, and in a few other locations elsewhere in Venezuela and in Colombia.
