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Rhynchodoras
Rhynchodoras is a small genus of catfishes (order Siluriformes) of the family Doradidae. It includes only three species, R. castilloi, R. woodsi, and R. xingui. Rhynchodoras is closely related to Rhinodoras and Orinocodoras.
Distribution
R. castilloi is found in the Apure River, a tributary of the Orinoco, in Venezuela; it is found only in deep water. R. woodsi is found in the Bobonaza River (a tributary of the Pastaza River) of the upper Amazon River drainage in eastern Ecuador. R. xingui is from the Xingu River of eastern-central Brazil.
Physical description
Rhynchodoras species are distinguished from all other doradids by their highly modified jaws which are strongly compressed, elongate, forceps-like in appearance, and project ventrally. The head is large and longer than it is wide, with a somewhat conical shape. There are three pairs of barbels, one pair of maxillary barbels and two pairs of mental barbels. Barbs occur on the dorsal fin and pectoral fin spines; on the anterior surface, barbs are curved towards the tip of the spine, and on the posterior surface are recurved away from the tip of the spine. The caudal fin is forked. There is a series of spined, lateral plates called scutes. Eyes are relatively small.
R. woodsi can be differentiated from R. xingui by a smaller eye and a slightly longer upper jaw than lower jaw. Also, R. woodsi is known to grow to about 10.5 centimetres SL while R. xingui is only known to grow to 6.3 cm SL. R. castilloi differs from R. woodsi by having abundant, punctate tubercles on the body, and it differs from R. xingui in the number of form of its scutes.
In the aquarium
R. woodsi has been kept in the aquarium. A timid fish species, they should not be kept with boisterous tankmates. Active at night, they will hide throughout the day. Though they will eventually recognize prepared foods, it is best to acclimate these fish on frozen brine shrimp. They have an affinity for wood, which should be included as part of the aquarium furniture.
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Rhynchodoras
