This species has had several L-numbers assigned to it, with L146 collected from an unspecified locality in Colombia and L232 from the Río Putomayo/Içá.

It’s exported for the aquarium trade under a number of different generic names including Hemiancistrus, Sophiancistrus and Peckoltichthys.

Following Armbruster (2008) it can be to…

It’s known by various vernacular names including ‘Pirá-pacu’, ‘Pira-pucu’ or ‘Diente de cao’ (central Amazon), ‘Bicuda’ or ‘Uena’ (rio Tocantins), ‘Bicuda’ (rio Tapajós), ‘Aguejeta’ or ‘Picua’ (Venezuela), and ‘Moruwi’ or ‘Pirapoko’ (Guyana).

The entire dorsal-fin base is located anteriorly to a vertical through the anal-fin origin and this character distinguishes it from all other ctenolucids except B. lucius and B. xyrekes.

This species can be told apart from the very similar-looking congener B. filamentosum by its smaller adult size (B. filamentosum can grow to almost 3 m in length), shorter maxillary barbels (never extending beyond base of adipose fin (vs. extending beyond base of adipose fin), moderately-forked with lobes of equal size (vs. deeply-forked caudal fin with upper lobe usually longer than the lower) and body col…

Found in a number of habitat-types, though rarely in smaller tributaries, generally preferring deeper, flowing channels through which it travels for considerable distances at certain times of year. Like other large, migratory pimelodids these movements are typically associated with nutrient-rich, white water drainages rather than nutrient-poor black waters.

C. strigata is an enduringly popular species in the aquarium hobby but is not bred on a commercial basis with all fish offered for sale collected in the wild.

It can be told apart from other members of the genus by its larger adult size and dark, marbled colour pattern appearing as a series of dark and light stripes running diagonally across the body below the lateral line.

This colour pattern is variable and popul…

This species is currently the only described member of its genus although colour pattern and morphology vary considerably across its range.

You may see reference to this species being the only fish species to possess infra-red vision, but other species also possess this ability and we suspect that infra-red plays an important role in the reproductive cycle of many fishes.

Wild populations vary in colour pattern depending on origin, and some populations have previously been described as distinct species.

A form from Peru has a particularly silvery body colour, for example, while another, marketed as ‘super red’ possesses an unusually long red stripe on the body, extending much of the length of the dark central stripe. A population from around Boa Vista in the rio Branco system, Pará state, Brazil has an ocellus o…

There also exist a number of minor differences in colour pattern between populations. For example some Peruvian forms have yellow pigmentation on the body and fins, and those from Guyana and Suriname possess a short red stripe on vertical scale rows 6-9, above the central dark stripe on the body.

Rio Negro forms have a similar red stripe but overlapping the central dark stripe and extending along most of the flank, while a form from Colombia has an elongate red stripe which is broken in two beneath the dorsal-fi…

This species has been referred to the genera Poecilobrycon and Nannobrycon in the past and in the aquarium hobby is also known as ‘rocket’, ‘brown’, ‘brown-tailed’, ‘diptail’, or ‘tubemouth’ pencilfish.It’s a popular aquarium fish and has an interesting oblique swimming-style, a behavioural trait shared only with N. unifasciatus among congeners.

In the original description the colour pattern is given by Steindachner as a brown lateral stripe exte…

This is the type species of the genus Aequidens and has the widest distribution of any member species. It exists in various colour forms depending on locality with variants from Ecuador and Peru being particularly sought after since they develop striking red (Ecuador) or orange (Peru) colouration on the lower part of the jaw, head and anterior portion of the belly whereas those from Brazil tend to have an overall grey/blue/green colouration, for example.

Despite its type status it's long…