Pseudostegophilus is a genus of pencil catfishes native to rivers in tropical South America. The members of this genus are obligate parasites that feed on scales and mucus of other fish.
| Pseudostegophilus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Siluriformes |
| Family: | Trichomycteridae |
| Subfamily: | Stegophilinae |
| Genus: | Pseudostegophilus Eigenmann & Eigenmann, 1889 |
| Type species | |
| Stegophilus nemurus Günther, 1869
| |
Species edit
There are currently two recognized species in this genus:[1]
- Pseudostegophilus haemomyzon (Myers, 1942)
- Pseudostegophilus nemurus (Günther, 1869)
P. haemomyzon originates from the Orinoco River basin in Venezuela while P. nemurus is found in the Amazon basin in Brazil and Peru.[2] P. haemomyzon grows to about 5.7 centimetres (2.2 in) SL.[3] P. nemurus grows to about 15.0 cm (5.9 in) TL.[4] P. nemurus is said to become attached to the gills, anal region, and fins of dead, dying, or disabled fishes.[4]
References edit
- ^ Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2012). Species of Pseudostegophilus in FishBase. February 2012 version.
- ^ Ferraris, Carl J. Jr. (2007). "Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1418: 1–628. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1418.1.1.
- ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2007). "Pseudostegophilus haemomyzon" in FishBase. July 2007 version.
- ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2007). "Pseudostegophilus nemurus" in FishBase. July 2007 version.